Arizona Coach Tommy Lloyd Disappointed By Offensive Chants To BYU

Arizona basketball head coach Tommy Lloyd expressed disappointment in his fans for the chants they aimed at BYU and members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Following BYU’s 96-95 victory over the Wildcats in Tucson on Saturday, Arizona students chanted, “(Expletive) the Mormons!”

Video surfaced on social media platforms, such as X, showing Arizona fans screaming slurs at BYU players as they left the McKale Center floor.

Arizona Basketball Head Coach Tommy Lloyd disappointed by chants after BYU game

Lloyd, a former Gonzaga assistant under Mark Few when BYU was in the West Coast Conference, noted his respect for the BYU program, even after a tough defeat.

“Listen, I’ve competed against BYU for years, and I really enjoy doing that,” Tommy Lloyd told reporters on Tuesday.

Lloyd continued by expressing greater disappointment in the chants from Arizona fans to BYU in their first meeting in Tucson as Big 12 opponents.

“My biggest disappointment was the way our fans and students reacted to some of their players coming off the court,” Lloyd said. “There’s no place in society, let’s just start with that overall –but especially in collegiate athletics– where anyone’s religion or race should become a focal point ever. So that was my biggest disappointment.

“I know it’s probably not the first time it’s happened to (BYU). It’s disappointing that it continues to happen. And hopefully, with us being full-time members in a conference with them, our fans will learn that’s just not acceptable. So, to me, that was the overriding disappointment, more than just the result of the game was that. So hopefully, it’s an opportunity to be better and do better, and we all take it as that.”

It’s the second time this season that BYU basketball has been on the receiving end of offensive chants centered around The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The other incident was at Providence in a non-conference matchup last December. Those chants at Providence occurred during the game.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sponsors Brigham Young University.

On Monday, the leadership team from Arizona’s student section, ZonaZoo, published an apology to BYU men’s basketball and members of the LDS faith for the chants.

“The actions by students after Arizona v BYU were unacceptable & are not reflective of the 14,000 ZonaZoo members or our ZonaZoo crew. We have taken steps on our end to address the situation internally to prevent future incidents like this from ever happening again.”

Every person deserves respect

Lloyd hopes to see respect given to everyone in the future.

“Let’s learn from it and move forward. Every person on the face of this Earth deserves respect. Obviously, that was not a sign of respect for what happened at the end of that game.”

Lloyd’s Wildcats now prepare to host the Utah Utes on Wednesday night. BYU is gearing up to face the Arizona State Sun Devils in Tempe on Wednesday.

Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and hosts the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (12–3 p.m.) on KSL Newsradio. Follow Mitch’s coverage of BYU in the Big 12 Conference on X: @Mitch_Harper.

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