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Associated Press Names Lloyd National Coach of the Year

Apr 1, 2022

NEW ORLEANS – On Friday in New Orleans, the Associated Press announced that Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd has been named the 2022 National Coach of the Year. Lloyd becomes the first Arizona men's basketball coach to receive the honor in the 55 years of the award.
 
Lloyd, who just completed his first season as a head coach, was also named the national coach of the year by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) and United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) earlier this week. The last coach to win all three in the same season was Anthony Grant at Dayton in 2019-20, and the last Pac-12 coach to win all three in the same season was Ralph Miller at Oregon State in 1981.
 
Lloyd helped Arizona to a 33-4 overall record in 2021-22 and a 18-2 mark in Pac-12 play, winning the regular season by three games over UCLA. The Wildcats also went on to capture the Pac-12 Tournament crown and Lloyd was named Pac-12 Coach of the Year. Arizona earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and advanced to the Sweet 16 with wins over Wright State and TCU on the opening weekend. The 33 wins are 16 more than last season and the third-most in program history.
 
As a team, Arizona set new program records for assists and blocked shots while Bennedict Mathurin was a consensus second team all-American and Pac-12 Player of the Year. Christian Koloko tied the Arizona single-season record with 102 blocked shots and was named Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year and Most Improved Player of the Year while joining Mathurin and teammate Azuolas Tubelis on the First Team All Pac-12. Dalen Terry was a honorable mention all-conference performer and a member of the all-defensive team while finishing 12th in the country in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.84).
 
Arizona led the country in assists per game (19.6), total assists (726) and total rebounds (1,531). The Wildcats also ranked among the top 10 in the country in field goal percentage (5th), free throw attempts (4th), free throws made (3rd), rebound margin (9th), scoring margin (3rd), scoring offense (3rd), total blocks (4th).
 
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