In only its second season in the Big 12, the toughest league in the nation, Arizona is the regular-season and conference tournament champion.
The Wildcats held off defending champ Houston and persevered with a 79-74 victory Saturday at the T-Mobile Center at Kansas City, Mo.
Arizona (32-2) won its ninth straight game. It earned the Big 12’s automatic bid and will be a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament next week.
Houston (28-6) is a likely No. 2 seed.
Whereas senior captain Jaden Bradley was the hero in Friday’s win over Iowa State with a last-second jumper, the freshman duo of Koa Peat and Brayden Burries led the way against Houston with each scoring 21 points. They are the first freshman teammates to score at least 20 points in a Big 12 tournament game.
“My teammates, they put me in great spots to score,” Peat said to ESPN. “I’m going to do whatever the team needs me to do to win. I’m just proud of the guys.
“We worked for this and we deserved this.”
— Arizona Basketball (@ArizonaMBB) March 15, 2026
Two free throws by Peat put Arizona ahead 75-66 with 1:31 left.
A missed free throw by Peat and a missed layup by Bradley was answered by 3-pointers by Mercy Miller and Milos Uzan to cut the lead to 75-72 with 52 seconds left.
Peat missed a baseline jumper but Motiejus Krivas grabbed the rebound and Joseph Tugler fouled him.
Krivas, a 78% free-throw shooter, nailed them both to put Arizona ahead 77-72 with 22.9 seconds left.
Kingston Flemings missed a drive to the basket and Peat was called for his fifth foul on a rebound attempt with 13.1 seconds remaining.
Chase McCarty made both free throws to cut the lead to 77-74.
Ivan Kharchenkov could not inboud the ball, so he used Arizona’s last timeout.
Burries was fouled after the inbound pass, and he made them both with 8 seconds left to seal the win.
“I was a little down yesterday with sickness and stuff,” Burries said in the 1290-AM postgame radio show.
He missed all of his seven shots from the field against Iowa State on Friday and his first three against Houston, including two air-ball 3-point attempts.
“My teammates picked me up. They played amazing yesterday and today. Today, I came out, started a little slow with two airballs. Coach (Tommy Lloyd) was there cheering me up. I’m so thankful to them (the coaches) and my teammates, honestly.”
Arizona finished 23 of 27 at the free-throw line while Houston was 10 of 14.
“They got 13 more free throws than us,” said Emanuel Sharp, who fouled out with 1:31 left. “That’s 13 points, and we lost by five. So, I mean, we’ve got to do a better job with not being so handsy, especially me, I guess. Stay out of foul trouble so I can be on the floor longer.
“Those are free points. In a close game like that, free throws matter.”
Peat, whose recruiting decision came down to Arizona and Houston, also had six rebounds.
Bradley finished with 13 points and Kharchenkov had 12 points and a team-high seven rebounds.
Tugler had a career-high 20 points and 10 rebounds for Houston, and reserve guard Miller had 13 points and seven rebounds.
Sharp, Uzan and Flemings combined for only 26 points on 9-of-30 shooting from the field.
Arizona trailed by no more than two points in the first half and gained some separation on an 8-2 run fueled by four points from Peat.
Peat’s jumper with 10:27 left in the first half put Arizona ahead 22-14.
Twice, Houston rallied back after that eight-point deficit and a 31-24 lead by the Wildcats with 6:11 remaining until halftime.
Flemings’ four straight points, including two free throws after drawing Tobe Awaka’s third foul, tied the game at 33 with 3:44 left in the half.
Arizona outscored Houston 11-3 to close the half with Burries scoring all the points.
Burries was in an 0-of-10 shooting slump from the field, factoring Friday’s game against Iowa State (0 of 7 shooting) and the start of the game against the Cougars.
The cold spell was snapped with 2:41 left in the half on a layup following a pass from Peat. He went on to make two 3-pointers and a jumper.
Arizona led 44-36 at halftime behind 13 points from Bradley, 12 by Burries and 11 from Peat.
The Wildcats thrived despite the foul trouble of Awaka and Krivas, who drew his second foul with 9:10 left in the half and did not return.
Arizona scored the first seven points of the second half to build a 51-36 lead with 16:37 left, but the Wildcats lost Bradley to a left wrist injury during that span.
Bradley immediately exited to the locker room with trainer Justin Kokoskie after he was fouled while trying to get past Sharp with 17:40 left.
ESPN reported that X-rays of Bradley’s wrist were negative. He returned to the court with his wrist bandaged with 14:35 left and Arizona leading 57-42.
Houston became the aggressor and went on a 14-0 run to cut the lead to 59-58 with 7:08 left.
Arizona missed seven consecutive shots from the field and had five turnovers in that stretch.
Burries finally ended the dry spell with a drive to the basket and drawing Sharp’s fourth foul in the process. His 3-point play gave Arizona a 62-58 lead with 6:40 left.
Kharchenkov had seven points in a 9-2 run that put Arizona ahead 71-62 with 3:51 left.
One of the shots was a 3-pointer that Kharchenkov banked in when the shot clock was running out, putting Arizona ahead 65-60 with 5:52 left.
“We got nine consecutive stops (and) we cut it to one,” Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said in the postgame press conference. “I thought a key play was when they hit the 22-foot bank shot. That was a big possession, for both teams. Shot clock was running down. We were playing great defense again. Then they bank a ball in from 20 feet.
“Take a little bit of air out of your balloon a little bit — until they do it again three possessions later from the free-throw line, another bank shot (by Burries). But, you know, if you coach long enough, you’ve probably been the beneficiary of that, too. Though, I don’t remember getting two in one game.”
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