The No. 2 Arizona Wildcats (29-2, 16-2 Big 12) and UCF Knights (21-20, 9-9 Big 12) faced off for the Big 12 Tournament Quarterfinals on ESPN Thursday.
From March 10-14, the Big 12 Tournament will be hosted at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri.
“We are the best conference, men’s conference, in college basketball. And it shows, the ranked versus ranked. Our ratings have been up all season long, and thanks to our great partnership with ESPN, we were up 100% in that big Monday window,” said Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormack on ESPN.
The conference has continued to grow over the years, and now the tournament features powerhouse teams: No.2 Arizona Wildcats, No. 5 Houston Cougars, No. 7 Iowa State Cyclones, No. 14 Kansas Jayhawks, and No. 16 Texas Tech Red Raiders.
The Wildcats entered the tournament on a six-game win streak—defeating four ranked opponents during the stretch.
The Knights were coming off an overtime victory over the Cincinnati Bearcats to reach the Big 12 Tournament quarterfinals.
Arizona looked to stamp its name on the tournament and continued their dominant season.
The U of A features Chandler native Koa Peat from Perry High School.
Peat was sidelined for three games during Feb. but has been ready to go since in the Wildcat’s starting lineup.
Arizona excels inside the paint as the team averages 43.0 PPG inside (5th in D1).
The lineup for the Wildcats is big and physical, highlighted by the towering 7’2” center Motiejus Krivas (10.8 PPG, 8.2 REB) and 6’8”, 250 lbs. forward Tobe Awaka (9.6 PPG, 9.5 REB).
The paint battle coming in was crucial for both teams, especially on the defensive end for UCF.
Containing the physical nature of the Wildcats wasn’t easy.
Arizona led UCF at the half, 46-30.
Arizona looked dominant in the first half from both the interior and outside.
Wildcat guard Brayden Burries led the charge with 12 points on an efficient 4 for 7 shooting from the field.
But Arizona’s head coach Tommy Lloyd knew the game was not over—emphasizing the volatility of every team in the tournament.
UCF ended the half on a good note, shooting 6 for 6 after starting the game 6 for 27.
The Knights were familiar with deficits like this coming off their win against Cincinnati.
The team trailed by eight with around two minutes left in regulation during that game and still came back.
It was clear, if UCF were to come back, it would need to come from their team leaders, Riley Kugel, who scored 15 points in their win over Cincinnati, and Jamichael Stillwell, who had a 17-point 15 rebound double-double in the win as well.
With around four minutes to go, UCF looked to cut the deficit to single digits, but Burries took over with a pull-up three to cap his seven-point run.
Burries’s seven-point swing looked to be the back-breaker for UCF as it extended their lead back to 19 points at 54-73.
The Wildcats move on to the Big 12 Tournament semifinals against the Iowa State Cyclones.
The Cyclones won their quarterfinal matchup against Texas Tech in dominant fashion,75-53.
Under Tommy Lloyd, Arizona has won two Pac-12 Tournaments and reached the Big 12 Final last year.
This year, the team looks primed to not only win the Big 12 Tournament but also the NCAA championship.
Arizona men’s basketball has not won a national championship since 1997.
This year, those aspirations have never looked better.
The Wildcats will focus on their semifinal matchup on Friday, the team will has high high expectations as they continue their success.
