Arizona gets tough draw in first Big 12 Tournament
As expected, the Arizona Wildcats will play in their first Big 12 Tournament game on Thursday against the all-time winningest program in college basketball history — the Kansas Jayhawks.
No. 6 seed Kansas beat UCF 96-93 in overtime in a second-round game on Wednesday night, earning the Jayhawks a berth in the quarterfinals against the No. 3 seed Wildcats.
Arizona and Kansas met just five days ago in Allen Fieldhouse, an 83-76 Kansas win. The Wildcats could not contain Kansas center Hunter Dickinson who finished with a career-high tying 33 points.
"At some point with a guy like (Dickinson) you've got to pick and choose what you're living with," Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd said after Saturday's loss to Kansas. "He did a great job. ... He had his touch going around the basket. It seems like this year he's had some games where those balls have just kind of rolled off the rim and it's hurt them, but today they all kind of went in."
With five days to prepare, it will be interesting to see what wrinkles Lloyd has for the rematch with Bill Self. Both teams are comfortably in the NCAA Tournament, with Arizona projected as a No. 5 seed and Kansas as a No. 6 seed. But a couple of wins in the Big 12 Tournament could boost the seeds for both teams.
The winner of Thursday's Arizona-Kansas quarterfinal will face the winner of Texas Tech vs. Baylor in Friday's second semifinal game. Here's the full quarterfinals schedule:
Big 12 Tournament: Quarterfinals schedule (March 13)
- Game 9 – No. 4 seed BYU vs. No. 5 seed Iowa State - 11:30 a.m. CT
- Game 10 – No. 1 seed Houston vs. No. 16 seed Colorado - 2 p.m. CT
- Game 11 – No. 2 seed Texas Tech vs. No. 7 seed Baylor - 6 p.m. CT
- Game 12 – No. 3 seed Arizona vs. No. 6 seed Kansas - 8:30 p.m. CT
Big 12 Tournament: Semifinals schedule (March 14)
- Game 13 – Winner of Game 9 vs. Winner of Game 10 - 6 p.m. CT
- Game 14 – Winner of Game 11 vs. Winner of Game 12 - 8:30 p.m. CT
Big 12 Tournament championship game (March 15)
- Game 15 – Winner of Game 13 vs. Winner of Game 14 - 5 p.m. CT
