Arizona basketball coach Tommy Lloyd made outrageous history with victory over No. 2 Duke

It’s safe to say that Tommy Lloyd’s tenure as the Arizona Wildcats men’s head basketball coach is off to an impressive start. But after his team’s road victory over the No. 2 ranked Duke Blue Devils, it’s also off to a historical start as well.

Lloyd became the first coach in Division I history across the entirety of college basketball to defeat a top-three-ranked opponent in each of their first three seasons, as OptaStats revealed. It’s an incredible feat, which goes without saying, but it also goes along with another record Lloyd holds — his 61 wins over the first two seasons as a head coach surpassed former North Carolina coach Bill Guthridge’s previous high-water mark of 59 victories.

Looking back at the past two seasons, the Wildcats defeated the No. 2 ranked UCLA Bruins in the Pac-12 title game last year. The year prior, they also defeated UCLA when the Bruins were ranked No. 3 in the country, and for good measure, defeated the then-No. 4 ranked Michigan Wolverines earlier in the 2021-22 season as well.

It’s been a stellar first two seasons for Lloyd, even with the upset loss to Princeton in the opening round of the NCAA tournament last season. The Wildcats posted a 33-4 record in his first season while going 18-2 in conference play, and proceeded to post a 28-7 record last year with a 14-6 record in conference play.