Senior captain Jaden Bradley is the Big 12 Player of the Year, but freshman Brayden Burries is playing like the most valuable of the Wildcats.
After scoring a career-high 31 points to fuel Arizona’s win at Colorado last week, Burries finished with 21 points to lead the top-seeded Wildcats to an 81-59 victory Thursday over No. 8 UCF in a Big 12 tournament quarterfinal game at Kansas City.
The victory for Arizona (30-2) earns the Wildcats their ninth season with at least 30 wins, second of the Tommy Lloyd era.
ARIZONA 30-WIN SEASONS
| Season | Record | Head Coach | Postseason Result |
| 1987–88 | 35–3 | Lute Olson | Final Four |
| 1997–98 | 30–5 | Lute Olson | Elite Eight |
| 2004-05 | 30-7 | Lute Olson | Elite Eight |
| 2010–11 | 30–8 | Sean Miller | Elite Eight |
| 2013–14 | 33–5 | Sean Miller | Elite Eight |
| 2014–15 | 34–4 | Sean Miller | Elite Eight |
| 2016–17 | 32–5 | Sean Miller | Sweet Sixteen |
| 2021–22 | 33–4 | Tommy Lloyd | Sweet Sixteen |
| 2025-26 | 30-2 (ongoing) | Tommy Lloyd | To be determined |
Arizona will play No. 5 Iowa State (27-6) at 4 p.m., Tucson time, on Friday on ESPN.
Burries’ seven consecutive points helped start a 10-0 run that put Arizona ahead 76-54 with 2:53.
The Knights trailed by only 12 points (after falling behind by 27 points in the first half) before Burries’ scoring spurt that included two free throws, a dunk and a 3-pointer.
In Burries’ last five games, including victories over Baylor, Kansas, Iowa State and Colorado, he is 34 of 61 (55.7%) from the field (9 of 24 from 3-point range).
Koa Peat and Tobe Awaka each had 12 points with Awaka also grabbing 12 rebounds.
Motiejus Krivas had 10 rebounds to go with his nine points.
Ivan Kharchenkov finished with 10 points.
Note: Big Ten is moving its tournament to Las Vegas in two years because of the recent addition of USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington … https://t.co/Sm8jgnNbAl
— Javier Morales (@JavierJMorales) March 12, 2026
Concerning Arizona’s balance, Burries told ESPN after the game: “It’s a blessing because everybody can go off at any given moment. We’re all unselfish, so we all just pass the ball. So that’s great.”
Bradley had eight points after going scoreless at Colorado. He also had five rebounds and three assists.
Arizona never trailed after scoring the first seven points and taking a 12-2 lead five minutes into the game behind Burries’ seven points at that point.
A 15-0 run behind five points each from Burries, Peat and Anthony Dell’Orso increased Arizona’s lead to 35-8 with 7:35 left in the first half.
UCF missed eight straight shots from the field and Arizona was 6 of 8 in that stretch.
The Knights made six consecutive shots and 9 of 12 to conclude the first half to cut the lead to 46-30 at halftime.
Lloyd was not pleased, telling ESPN at halftime that his team “let up” toward the end of the first half.
“We didn’t coach very good; we didn’t play very good the last four or five minutes,” Lloyd said. “We need to play steady — play steady, good basketball, don’t relax.”
During the postgame press conference, Lloyd commented about the Wildcats having to play through the “sterile environment” of T-Mobile Arena in Kansas City.
“I think our fans all waited to buy tickets,” Lloyd said. “They all assume that we’re going to San Diego (for the NCAA tournament next week). They’re making a lot of assumptions now, and they’ve saved all their money. I just didn’t feel like we had a great presence in the arena today.
“So you know what? Then it needs to become all about us. We need to internalize and kind of band together and become a stronger unit, and we need to create energy for each other and draw energy off each other in those situations.”
Burries, who led Arizona with 12 points at halftime, made his first four shots from the field but missed his last three of the half. He finished 7 of 13 from the field.
Arizona was still at 56.7% from the field and had only two turnovers at halftime. The Wildcats finished at 48.3% after shooting 40% in the second half. They finished with only eight turnovers.
Although the Knights were hot from the field to end the half, they were at 36.4% from the field, including a 1-of-11 performance from 3-point range. They finished at 36.5% from the field, 3 of 21 from beyond the arc.
Themus Fulks made all four of his shots from the field by halftime and had nine points to lead the Knights. He finished with a team-high 14 points.
“We relaxed and that cost us down the stretch,” Lloyd continued to ESPN about the end of the half. “These games are never over until the buzzer, so we’ve got to get back to it.”
Arizona couldn’t shake UCF early in the second half, despite the Knights’ leading scorer Riley Kugel picking up his fourth foul with 15:50 left. Starting center John Bol also played only four minutes in the second half because of chest pains.
Kugel, averaging 14.7 points a game, finished with six points.
The Knights scored six unanswered points to cut the lead to 54-42 with 11:49 left.
“I’m going to give them (the Wildcats) credit for getting the lead and getting off to that great start,” Lloyd said. “That was good. But yeah. It just felt like we had a little bit of a letdown, and I’m sure UCF’s urgency they played with had a little bit to do with that.”
Arizona took a 61-44 lead with 8:22 remaining after Krivas made two free throws, breaking a string of six consecutive misses from the line for the Wildcats.
Arizona was 17 of 31 from the line in the game, 9 of 19 in the second half.
UCF’s consecutive baskets cut the lead to 61-48 with 7:24 left.
Arizona broke a string of seven straight missed shots when Awaka converted after taking a lob pass from Peat with 6:22 left, putting the Wildcats ahead 63-48.
UCF again responded, cutting the lead to 66-54.
That’s when Burries took over with his seven consecutive points to close the door on the Knights.
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