Arizona is now two wins away from playing a Final Four a two-hour drive from its campus.

The second-seeded Wildcats became the first team to advance to the NCAA tournament’s round of 16 on Saturday with a hard-earned 78-68 victory over resilient, never-say-die Dayton.

Two days ago, Dayton trailed by 17 midway through the second half of its first-round matchup against Nevada. The seventh-seeded Flyers responded with a 24-4 surge to stun the Wolf Pack and extend their season.

On Saturday, Dayton again fell behind by 17 late in the first half, the victim of an early barrage of 3s from streak-shooting Arizona guard Caleb Love. The Flyers answered back with a 10-0 surge going into halftime and later trimmed the deficit to as little as three, but the Wildcats didn’t wilt when faced with game pressure.

Pelle Larsson and Jaden Bradley both sank key 3-pointers during a 10-0 Arizona surge that extended the lead back to 15 with less than seven minutes to play. Kylan Boswell and KJ Lewis both sank clutch free throws in the final two minutes to earn the Wildcats a Sweet 16 matchup against either third-seeded Baylor or sixth-seeded Clemson in Los Angeles next Thursday.

In three seasons at Arizona, Tommy Lloyd has won almost 90 games, captured two Pac-12 titles and claimed two conference tournament crowns. The only thing Lloyd hasn’t yet done is coach the Wildcats deep into the NCAA tournament.

Two years ago, a top-seeded Arizona team was fortunate to survive TCU in the round of 32 and then lost to Houston in the Sweet 16. Last year, a second-seeded Arizona team didn’t even win a game, falling to Princeton in the round of 64.

A deep run is still a possibility this year. And a home-state Final Four remains a tantalizing possibility.