Arizona held on and got revenge over Houston to win the Big 12 title game 79-74 on Saturday, a year after falling to the Cougars in the conference championship game.
The freshman duo of Koa Peat and Brayden Burries led the way for the Wildcats, as the pair of five-star freshmen both scored 21.
The regular season Big 12 champion Wildcats led by as many as 15 when they were up 59-44 with 14:04 to play before a 14-0 Houston run cut Arizona’s lead to one with 7:08 remaining.
The Wildcats missed seven shots in a row during that stretch and battled foul trouble in a physical second half before a 9-2 Arizona run. Ivan Kharchenkov scored seven in a row for Arizona to put the Wildcats up seven after he was scoreless in the first half.
Houston went on a 6-0 run in 16 seconds to cut Arizona’s lead to three with 48.5 seconds remaining. Peat missed a 13-footer with 25 seconds left but Motiejus Krivas grabbed an offensive rebound and was fouled, sending the Lithuanian to the line, where he put the Wildcats up by five.
Burries overcame a slow a start and found his form at the end of the first half, scoring 10 Arizona points in a row as the Wildcats closed the first half on an 11-3 run to create a bit of separation and take a 44-36 halftime lead.
Burries, Arizona’s leading scorer at 15.8 points per game, airballed his first two shot attempts and missed a total of 11 in a row dating back to Friday’s win over Iowa State in the semifinals, where he shot 0 of 7.
The San Bernadino native’s first field goal Saturday did not come until the 2:41 mark in the first half.
Following his buzzer-beating game winner on Friday, Jaden Bradley, the Big 12 Player of the Year, picked up right where he left off and scored eight of Arizona’s first 14 points but had an injury scare early in the second half.
Bradley held his left wrist as he went to the locker room with trainer Justin Kokoskie with 17:40 remaining after colliding with Houston’s Emmanuel Sharp.
Scary moment early in the second as Jaden Bradley appears to injure his left hand after a collision with Emmanuel Sharp
He is now headed back to the locker room@ArizonaMBB – 49@UHCougarMBK – 36 17:33 2nd@KOLDNews pic.twitter.com/b0bCOElb5P
— Sean Mahoney (@SeanMahoneyTV) March 14, 2026
Bradley came back to the Arizona bench with 15:49 left in the game with his left wrist and index finger wrapped, and ESPN’s Kris Budden reported on the broadcast Bradley had an X-ray, which came back negative. He came back into the game with 14:36 remaining but was held scoreless in the second half, after he scored 13 in the first half.
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Arizona battled foul trouble and was forced to play a small lineup for much of the game.
Tobe Awaka was limited to just 14 minutes after he was charged with his fourth foul with 10:52 to go. Krivas had two fouls with 9:10 left in the first half but limited himself to one foul the rest of the way. Peat fouled out with 10 seconds left in the game.
The Wildcats, a projected No. 1 seed, will await Selection Sunday but are likely to be placed in the West Region in San Diego, where they would play in the first round on Friday and again on Sunday if they advance to the second round.
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