Koa Peat scored 21 points before fouling out and Brayden Burries also had 21 as top-seeded Arizona defeated second-seeded Houston 79-74 on Saturday night in Kansas City to win the Big 12 tournament and claim the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Jaden Bradley scored 13 points and Ivan Kharchenkov added 12 for No. 2 Arizona, which won its ninth straight game. The Wildcats (32-2) are in the running for the No. 1 overall seed after winning their first Big 12 championship in their second year in the league, avenging last year’s title game loss to Houston.
“I’m just doing whatever the team needs me to do,” Peat said on ESPN. “We worked for this and we deserve this.”
Joseph “JoJo” Tugler scored a career-high 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for the No. 5 Cougars (28-6), who had a five-game winning streak snapped. Mercy Miller had 13 points and seven rebounds, Chase McCarty had 10 points and Emanuel Sharp also scored 10 before fouling out for Houston.
“The best player on the floor tonight was JoJo Tugler,” Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said at the postgame press conference. “There’s not a lot of things that bother Joe. He doesn’t get confused or lose confidence or constantly need somebody to build him up. He doesn’t need any of that. He’s a warrior.”
The Cougars led for just 59 seconds. Still, they are expected to be a No. 2 seed when the bracket is revealed on Selection Sunday.
Miller drained a 3-pointer with 1:05 remaining and Milos Uzan buried a trey with 53.8 seconds left as Houston moved within 75-72.
Motiejus Krivas sank two free throws to give Arizona a five-point lead with 22.9 seconds remaining. McCarty’s two free throws with 13.2 seconds left pulled Houston within 77-74.
Burries made two free throws with 8.3 seconds left to seal it for the Wildcats.
“We’ve been playing with each other for a while,” Arizona senior guard Bradley said at the postgame press conference. “We know each other and want the ball and need the ball. But playing against Houston, it’s never easy. So you know you’ve got to move it, you gotta find each other and create plays for each other. Brayden was hitting shots, and Koa was getting to the rim and Ivan was getting to the rim. All our guys contributed tonight.”
Arizona shot 46.3% from the field, including 6 of 13 from 3-point range.
The Cougars made 43.8% of their shots and were 8 of 21 from behind the arc.
“I think it was great for the Big 12,” Sampson said of the tournament final. “You’ve got the two best teams in the Big 12 fighting down the stretch. Either team could have won the game. Sometimes it comes down to a break. Sometimes it comes down to a whistle. Sometimes it comes down to a bounce. When two teams are as evenly matched as those two teams were today, that’s really what it came down to.”
Arizona led by eight at halftime before scoring the first seven points of the second half to take a 51-36 lead. Burries made two free throws to cap the half-opening run.
The Wildcats again led by 15 with just over 14 minutes left before Houston rattled off 14 consecutive points.
Sharpe buried a 3-pointer to start the run and Uzan later converted a three-point play to move the Cougars within 59-54 with 9:32 remaining. Tugler and Miller followed with layups as Houston trailed by one with 7:08 to play.
Burries scored on a runner and made the ensuing free throw with 6:40 left to end the Arizona scoring drought at seven minutes, 24 seconds.
A basket by Kingston Flemings brought Houston within two before Kharchenkov banked in a long 3-pointer to give the Wildcats a 65-60 lead with 5:52 to play.
The long trey started a 9-2 run for Arizona. Kharchenkov had seven of the points and Peat ended it with a short jumper to make it 71-62 with 3:51 left.
Burries scored the final 10 Arizona points of the first half as the Wildcats led 44-36 at the break. Burries had 12 points in the half, one behind Bradley’s 13 and one ahead of Peat’s 11.
Tugler had 10 points in the half for the Cougars.
–Field Level Media
