Arizona caps amazing Big 12 season with tournament championship win over Houston

Blair Kerkhoff, The Kansas City Star on Mar 14, 2026

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — An amazing Big 12 season was good through the final seconds.

Arizona outlasted Houston 79-74 a Big 12 Tournament final between the top-two seeds and highest ranked teams.

The Wildcats led nearly the entire game but couldn’t feel comfortable with the victory until freshman Brayden Burries hit a pair of free throws with eight seconds remaining with Arizona ahead by three.

The Cougars had trimmed a nine-point deficit to 75-72 with 52 seconds to play, but they never got the ball with a chance to tie.

Arizona, 32-2, completed the double, winning the regular season and tournament crown and should be a No. 1 seed when the NCAA Tournament field is announced Sunday.

“From Day 1, it’s been about Arizona,” Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark said while handing the championship trophy to Wildcats coach Tommy Lloyd.

Houston, 28-6, is looking at a No. 2 seed. The Cougars may have had an outside chance at a No. 1 seed with a victory.

The Cougars won last season’s Big 12 Tournament and reached the NCAA championship game before falling to Florida.

Arizona had opened a 15-point lead early in the second half, but with 17:19 remaining point guard Jaden Bradley attempted to dribble around Emanuel Sharp and they collided. Bradley immediately grabbed his left hand in pain. He left the game and went to the locker room.

Bradley returned three minutes later with his lower left arm wrapped and tape around a finger, but he wasn’t the same aggressive player. The Arizona lead had swelled to 15 early in the second half, but Houston battled back with 14 straight points to make it 59-58 with seven minutes remaining.

The Wildcats widened the margin with the help of a couple of bank-shot jumpers, a 3-pointer by Ivan Kharchenkov and a shot-clock-beating 17-footer from Burries.

Bradley was named the tournament’s most outstanding player and was joined on the all-tournament team by Burries, Houston’s Joseph Tugler, BYU’s AJ Dybantsa and Iowa State’s Milan Momcilovic.

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