After earning two days of rest to start the Big 12 Tournament as the No. 1 seed, it was a tale of two halves for the Wildcats in their first game in Kansas City. Tommy Lloyd’s group jumped out to a red (and blue) hot start, before cooling off in the second half. But in the end, top-seeded Arizona Men’s Basketball handled business against the 8-seed UCF Knights in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Tournament with an 81-59 victory.
Four players finished in double-figures, led by the Wildcats’ leading scorer Brayden Burries, who had a game-high 21 points. The freshman guard connected on 7-13 from the field, including 3-7 from downtown, and was 4-4 from the free throw line. Tobe Awaka and Koa Peat each had 12 points, while Awaka also secured 12 rebounds to record his seventh double-double of the season. Ivan Kharchenkov also finished with 10 points, shooting a perfect 4-4 from the field.
Motiejus Krivas was one point shy of a double-double, finishing with nine points and 10 rebounds. He made his presence felt on both ends of the floor though, with seven of his 10 rebounds coming on the offensive end, to go along with two blocks and two steals.
It was all Arizona early in this one. The Wildcats jumped out to a 35-8 lead, using a 14-2 run that included 12 points from Burries and Kharchenov through the first five minutes, as well as a 15-0 run that featured back-to-back triples from Anthony Dell’Orso and Burries, as well as a thunderous dunk from Peat off a crafty assist from Mo Krivas.
“I’m never going to shy away from building an early lead, because to me obviously it gives you a buffer to absorb some of these late-game runs,” said Tommy Lloyd after the game. “And it doesn’t always feel good when teams are chipping away at your lead, but it’s nice to have that lead and be able to have that margin for error down the stretch.”
The Knights did exactly that, outscoring the Wildcats 18-7 over the final five minutes of the first half, cutting a once 27-point lead to just 16 at the break.
The UCF players finished in double figures, led by Themus Fulks‘ 14-point outing. Jordan Burks and Chris Johnson each scored 10 points, while leading-scorer Riley Kugel was held to just six points as he battled foul trouble.
Seemingly every time UCF attempted to make a run in the second half, Arizona had an answer. A block by Krivas and coast-to-coast layup from Burries help the UA retake a 20-point lead, before the Knights cut the lead to 12 with 11:49 to play using a 6-0 run, before the Wildcats’ front-court responded with a 7-2 run, including an and-one for Tobe Awaka.
After trading buckets back and forth, including an alley oop dunk by Koa Peat off the assist from Jaden Bradley, UCF once again cut the lead to 12 with under 5 minutes to play, coming on the heels of a triple from Themus Fulks. Arizona had an answer once again. Just like the game opened, it was Brayden Burries and Ivan Kharchenkov who put a bow on things, combining for a 10-0 run that included a Burries transition dunk and triple and a three-point-play the old fashioned way for Kharchenkov. For added measure, local product Evan Nelson knocked down a 3-pointer with under 30 seconds to play, securing a spot in the semifinals.
While Tommy Lloyd is not one to look to far ahead, he understands the survive and advance mentality is already into effect after one game of postseason play.
“The objective in these tournaments is to get to the next one, and that’s mission accomplished today. And obviously we know tomorrow’s going to be a tough battle with an Iowa State team playing in their backyard, but we look forward to it.”
Arizona returns to action on Friday in the Big 12 Men’s Basketball Tournament semifinals against 5-seed Iowa State. The Wildcats were victorious in their lone meeting against the Cyclones 10 days ago in Tucson, winning 73-57 to clinch the Big 12 regular season championship. If Tommy Lloyd and Co. can get past Iowa State again, the will face the winner of (10) BYU/(2) Houston and (6) TCU/(3) Kansas in the tournament championship on Saturday. Friday’s game tips at 4:00 PM MST on ESPN or ESPN2.