Kansas Wildcats Dominate Top Tier Clash

KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI - MARCH 14: Koa Peat #10 of the Arizona Wildcats drives against Milos Uzan #7 of the Houston Cougars in the first half during the championship game of the Big 12 Tournament at T-Mobile Center on March 14, 2026 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images) | Getty Images Two titles down, one to go. Arizona followed up its regular season championship by claiming the Big 12 Tournament title, knocking off defending champ Houston 79-74 in the title game on Saturday evening in Kansas City.

The top-seeded Wildcats (32-2) became the 13 th school to sweep the Big 12 titles, the last three of which reached the NCAA championship game a few weeks later. Freshmen Brayden Burries and Koa Peat had 21 points each, with Burries scoring 10 in the final three minutes of the first half and icing the game by hitting two fouls shots with 8. 3 seconds remaining.

Jaden Bradley had 13 points, all in the first half, and briefly went to the locker room to get his left wrist taped but then played the final 14-plus minutes, and Ivan Kharchenkov added 12 for Arizona, which beat Houston (28-6) for the second time in a row after losing its first three meetings with the Cougars under Tommy Lloyd . Lloyd, who extended his NCAA record for wins in the first five seasons as a head coach to 143, won his sixth overall conference title with the UA. It’s the second time he’s won both the regular season and conference titles, joining the 2021-22 squad.

The UA won despite being eld scoreless for more than seven minutes in the second half, seeing a 15-point lead dwindle to one before recovering and holding on. Arizona made five of six shots to keep Houston behind and made all six free throws in the final 91 seconds, going 23 of 27 for the game. The UA led 44-36 at halftime, aided by Burries’ late burst.