In season 2 of the rugged Big 12, Arizona basketball has risen to the top

The top-seeded, Pac-12 champion Wildcats were bounced out of the 2022 Sweet 16 by the Cougars, a loss that prompted Lloyd to develop more toughness in his program. Then, once Arizona joined the Big 12 before the 2024-25 season, there the Cougars were again. Dominating a league they had joined just a year before.

Houston beat Arizona at McKale Center last season and again in the Big 12 Tournament title game en route to becoming the national runners-up in the NCAA Tournament.

Arizona, having tied for third in the Big 12 last season, lost to Duke in the Sweet 16.

“I was at a place where we were on top of the conference a lot, and then we got in the Big 12,” Lloyd said Saturday, after Arizona beat Houston 79-74 to win the Big 12 Tournament. “I learned real quick that we were looking up and chasing a program, and it was Houston.

“Not that we were fixated with the chase, but it gave us a great barometer for what we felt like we had to do to improve our program, to see if we can put ourselves over the top.”

They went over the top Saturday, again. Already, they had won the Big 12 regular-season title by two games over the Cougars, gaining sole possession of first place for good when they won at Houston on Feb. 21, and then they beat the Cougars again at the T-Mobile Center on Saturday, where Houston beat them exactly a year earlier.

There was significance to the change that even a kid who didn’t exactly grow up watching and breathing Big 12 basketball could appreciate.

“When anyone talks about Big 12, first of all, they talk about Houston,” said UA center Motiejus Krivas, a native of Lithuania who came to the U.S. three years ago to enroll at UA. “It was a standard, their program, how they play.

“Of course, it’s great to beat them. They are a great team. I’m sure they will go far.”

Houston might. Arizona might. The two teams might even meet in the Final Four again. They're that good.

But the bottom line is that Arizona and Houston are at least playing on the same level now, and Cougars coach Kelvin Sampson acknowledged it.

“Arizona's really good. They're really good,” Sampson said. “If Arizona had lost to Houston, I'd say the same thing. Arizona lost to a really good team. There's no shame in Arizona losing to Houston. And I'll say the same thing the other way.”

It was the Big 12’s two best teams, Sampson said, and either could have won Saturday.

The Wildcats were actually up by eight at halftime and by up to 15 in the second half, but Houston came back just as Bradley returned to the court from a three-minute break to examine his left index finger, which he said he jammed while colliding with Houston’s Emanuel Sharp.

“I don't even know what happened,” Bradley said. “It was just a crazy play. Glad I was able to get back out there and help guys.”

Bradley scored 13 points before his injury and zero afterward, missing two layups and turning the ball over once when Houston collapsed on him near the basket. He said it “felt a little different” when he returned, but Bradley still managed to help the Wildcats keep their lead, even as Houston shaved it all the way down to a single point.

Houston completed a 14-0 run by the time Mercy Miller made a layup after Bradley's turnover, trimming UA’s lead to 59-58 with 7:08 to go. But the Wildcats went back ahead 69-62 less than three minutes later after Ivan Kharchenkov drove in for a layup and made two free throws on UA’s next possession.

They were, as Lloyd likes to say, figuring it out. Whether Bradley was on the court or not.

“Of course you're worried when the best player, the senior of the team, basically the right hand of the coach goes out,” Kharchenkov said. “That hurts not only for the game, but also looking forward, for what we have ahead.

“But it was a little bit (normal) in our rotation that JB takes a break, Brayden (Burries) takes the one, Delly (Anthony Dell’Orso) takes the two, I’m taking the three or even the four. For this game, it would be enough. Then he came back, and it was good, but even if he didn't come back, we were prepared for that moment.”

The Wildcats never lost the lead the rest of the way, and Burries hit two game-sealing free throws with eight seconds left.

They had figured it out like so many times before this season. Including their Feb. 21 game at Houston, when forwards Koa Peat and Dwayne Aristode were out, and the Cougars heavily defended Krivas and Tobe Awaka inside — then Dell’Orso partially made up for all that by scoring 22 points, while Bradley had 17 points, four rebounds and four assists.

After they figured it out this time, on Saturday, the confetti fell, the stage was set up out to center court, and ladders lined up underneath the basket for net-snipping privileges. Bradley was named the Big 12 Tournament MVP, and Burries joined him on the all-tournament team.

The Big 12 was theirs. In just their second season in what has been arguably the nation’s toughest conference, where one of the nation’s toughest teams is now the runner-up.

“I'm thankful for Houston in the competition they give us,” Lloyd said. “And listen: I know that there's going to be numerous battles in the years to come with that program, and we welcome that.

“I'm sure we won't come out on top all the time. What this says is, Arizona basketball is a special program. It always has been. And these guys, it's their time in the program now, and they're honoring the legacy in a really special way.”