KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- After several days of complaints about its LED-lit glass floor -- and an injury to Texas Tech standout guard Christian Anderson on it -- the Big 12 is pivoting to hardwood for the final three games of the tournament.
Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark announced late Thursday night that "in order to provide our student-athletes with the greatest level of comfort on a huge stage this weekend," the league would replace the glass floor with hardwood for Friday's semifinals and Saturday's championship game.
Yormark said he consulted with the four coaches of the semifinal games, though Kansas coach Bill Self said he didn't have any involvement in the decision after it was announced.
"I personally didn't think it was as big a deal, but if you study it and watch the games throughout the day -- and maybe even some tonight, seemed like to me there were a lot of steps that end up sliding one or two inches. It just didn't look quite as clean.
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"It's cool-looking floor, but I'm excited that the talk tomorrow will be about the semifinals as opposed to the court."
After UA beat UCF 81-59 in a Big 12 Tournament quarterfinal game on the glass floor Thursday, UA coach Tommy Lloyd took a neutral stance, saying he was coaching and not playing on it.
"I mean, listen: We'll play on asphalt," he said. "We'll play on asphalt with double rims. we're fine with that. And if the other team has to deal with it, then we'll deal with it as well. But I'll let the powers that be make those higher up decisions."
Before the UA-UCF game, UA guard Brayden Burries changed into older shoes in the hopes of getting a better grip but still slipped during the game. Burries said afterward it took five minutes of warming up to get used to it, but otherwise had no complaints.
Arizona guard Brayden Burries (5) gets past UCF center John Bol (7) to put up a shot during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in the quarterfinal round of the Big 12 Conference tournament Thursday, March 12, 2026, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
But earlier Thursday, Anderson left Texas Tech's quarterfinal game with Iowa State because of a muscle strain suffered when he slipped on the floor.
"Obviously the floor is a bit slippery, so I think I just kind of mis-stepped or did a movement that caused me to slip and kind of ended up in a little unnatural position," Anderson said. "Yeah, that's what it was."
Arizona will face Iowa State in a semifinal game at 4 p.m. Friday that will be the first of the tournament played on a conventional wood floor.
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