Tommy Lloyd and the Wildcats just played three games in three days with one goal in mind, survive and advance. And survive and advance they did. The top-seeded Arizona Wildcats (32-2) defeated the 2-seed Houston Cougars (28-6) 79-74 in the Big 12 Men’s Basketball Tournament Championship, completing a sweep of the regular season and tournament.
The Wildcats jumped out to an early lead, largely in part due to Big 12 Player of the Year Jaden Bradley, before allowing the Cougars to hang around. Arizona trailed for less than a minute early in this game, but Houston cut the lead to one midway through the second half, before Tommy Lloyd’s trio of freshmen closed out the game with big time shots and clutch free throws down the stretch.
Four players finished in double figures, led by freshmen Koa Peat and Brayden Burries, who each scored 21 points. Peat did a little bit of everything for the Wildcats, connecting on 7-15 from the field and 7-11 from the line, while grabbing six rebounds, dishing two assists, and recording a block and a steal. Burries air-balled his first three 3-point attempts, before lighting it up down the stretch of the first half. He finished shooting 6-10 from the field, including 2-5 from beyond the arc.
Jaden Bradley had 13 points, all of which came in the first half. Bradley exited the game in the second half with a left wrist injury, but avoided a scare and was able to return to the game with his wrist and index finger taped. Freshman Ivan Kharchenkov followed up his balanced semifinals performance with an equally impressive night, scoring 12 points on 4-9 from the field, including 2-3 from deep, along with seven rebounds and an assist.
On the night, Arizona shot 46.3% from the field, including 6-13 (46.2%) from beyond the arc. Houston connected on 43.8% of its shots, including 38.1% from 3-point range. The Wildcats had a slim 35-34 advantage on the glass, with both teams scoring 30 points in the paint.
Three Houston players scored in double figures, led by Joseph Tugler, who finished with a career-high 20 points on 9-15 shooting, along with 10 rebounds. Mercy Miller and Chase McCarty scored 13 points and 10 points, respectively, for Kelvin Sampson‘s Cougars.
Arizona and Houston were back and forth to start the game, with Koa Peat and Jaden Bradley knocking down a jumper and triple to open up the scoring, before the Cougars responded with a 7-0 run that included a Chris Cenac Jr. triple. From there, the UA used a 17-7 run that featured seven more points from Peat and another triple from Bradley to take a 22-14 lead midway through the first half.
The Wildcats went cold from the field down the stretch of the first half. Arizona watched a 22-14 lead turn into a 33-33 tie with 3:44 to play in the first half, as Houston limited Tommy Lloyd’s team to just three field goals in nearly seven minutes. Burries responded though, shaking off his rough start from the field, while scoring 10 of the next 11 points, including a pair of triples, to give the Wildcats a 44-36 lead at the break.
Arizona’s lead ballooned to as many as 15 points in the second half after a 7-0 run coming out of the locker room. But then Houston made things interesting, piecing together a 14-0 run that was spurred by an Emanuel Sharp three and featured an and-one for Milos Uzan. The Cougars held Arizona scoreless for over five minutes, cutting the lead to one of the UA with a score of 59-58 with 7:08 to play.
Brayden Burries responded with a three-point-play the old fashioned way, extending lead to four with 6:40 to play. Kharchenkov would score the next seven points for Arizona, helping the Wildcats jump back out to a 71-62 lead with 3:51 to play.
Houston had one last run in them, as Mercy Miller and Uzan knocked down a pair of threes, cutting the score to a one-possession lead for Arizona with 0:52 seconds left to play. When they need it most, the Wildcats delivered at the free throw line, as Motiejus Krivas and Burries each knocked down a pair of free throws with 0:22 and 0:08 seconds remaining, respectively.
Arizona sweeps its conference regular season and tournament for the first time since Tommy Lloyd’s first year in Tucson in 2021-22, when the Wildcats were still in the Pac-12. Jaden Bradley, the Big 12 Player of the Year, was also named Most Outstanding Player of the Tournament.
Arizona now shifts its attention to Selection Sunday, where the Wildcats are all but guaranteed a 1-seed in the NCAA Tournament. Arizona’s most likely path is a 1-seed in the West Region, with the path to Indianapolis running through San Diego and San Jose. The Selection Show begins on Sunday, March 15, at 3 PM MST on CBS.