Inside The Wildcats

Kansas beats Arizona to boost Big 12 basketball tournament seed

The Wildcats are Jayhawks could play again on Thursday
Ben Sherman|
Arizona Wildcats guard KJ Lewis (5) shoots the ball during the first half against the Kansas Jayhawks at Allen Fieldhouse.
Arizona Wildcats guard KJ Lewis (5) shoots the ball during the first half against the Kansas Jayhawks at Allen Fieldhouse. | William Purnell-Imagn Images

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After being tied for first place less than a month ago, the Arizona Wildcats (20-11, 14-6) will finish their first season in the Big 12 in third place.

Arizona lost to Kansas 83-76 on Saturday, ending the regular season with five losses in their final eight games. The Wildcats could not contain Kansas big man Hunter Dickinson, who finished with 33 points and 10 rebounds.

Arizona will be the No. 3 seed in the Big 12 Tournament, and there's a good chance they will play Kansas again in the quarterfinals on Thursday. Kansas finished with the No. 6 seed. Here are the finalized Big 12 Tournament matchups:

First round - Tuesday, March 11

  • Game 1 - No. 12 seed Oklahoma State vs. No. 13 Seed Cincinnati - 11:30 a.m. CT
  • Game 2 – No. 9 seed TCU vs. No. 16 seed Colorado - 2 p.m. CT
  • Game 3 – No. 10 seed Kansas State vs. No. 15 seed Arizona State - 6 p.m. CT
  • Game 4 – No. 11 seed Utah vs. No. 14 seed UCF - 8:30 p.m. CT

Second round - Wednesday, March 12

  • Game 5 – No. 5 seed Iowa State vs. Winner of Game 1 - 11:30 a.m. CT
  • Game 6 – No. 8 seed West Virginia vs. Winner of Game 2 - 2 p.m. CT
  • Game 7 – No. 7 seed Baylor vs. Winner of Game 3 - 6 p.m. CT
  • Game 8 – No. 6 seed Kansas vs. Winner of Game 4 - 8:30 p.m. CT

Quarterfinals - Thursday, March 13

  • Game 9 – No. 4 seed BYU vs. Winner of Game 5 - 11:30 a.m. CT
  • Game 10 – No. 1 seed Houston vs. Winner of Game 6 - 2 p.m. CT
  • Game 11 – No. 2 seed Texas Tech vs. Winner of Game 7 - 6 p.m. CT
  • Game 12 – No. 3 seed Arizona vs. Winner of Game 8 - 8:30 p.m. CT

Read our full game Arizona-Kansas recap below:

SECOND HALF RECAP

Kansas 83, Arizona 76, final: On to the Big 12 Tournament. The odds favor Kansas and Arizona playing again in the quarterfinals on Thursday in Kansas City.

Kansas 79, Arizona 72, 1:20 left: K.J. Adams throws down a monster alley-oop to put this game away for Kansas. Bill Self has outcoached Tommy Lloyd down the stretch of this game. Hunter Dickinson has 33 points and 10 rebounds, and many of his points have come against single coverage over much smaller defenders. Lloyd's best shooter, Anthony Dell'Orso, has barely played and is 1-of-1 from the field. KJ Lewis, meanwhile, is 1-of-8 and 0-of-4 from downtown.

Kansas 66, Arizona 64, 7:40 left: Hunter Dickinson is having a monster game with 29 points and 8 rebounds. Henri Veesaar is back in the game with three fouls to try to contain Kansas' big man.

K.J. Adams foul trouble: Kansas forward K.J. Adams picks up his fourth foul with 8:21 left and goes to the bench. Kansas leads 66-64.

Arizona 59, Kansas 58, 11:28 left: Trey Townsend is 3-of-4 from the 3-point line and leads Arizona with 13 points and 6 rebounds. With Henri Veesaar out of the game, Hunter Dickinson is having his way for Kansas. He has 27 points and 7 rebounds and is 12-of-15 from the field.

Caleb Love 3! Arizona's fifth-year senior drills a corner 3-pointer to give Arizona its first lead of the second half. Arizona 54, Kansas 53, 13:23 left. Timeout Bill Self.

Kansas 48, Arizona 44, 16:00 left: The Wildcats come out of the locker room with much more offensive energy and get right back into the game. Anthony Dell'Orso drills a big 3-pointer after playing less than 3 minutes in the first half. Trey Townsend leads Arizona with 10 points and 5 rebounds, and Tobe Awaka has 8 points and 6 rebounds.

Veesaar foul trouble: 7-footer Henri Veesaar picks up his third foul with 18:35 left and goes to the bench. Trey Townsend takes his place. The Wildcats will have to defend Hunter Dickinson with much smaller players.

HALFTIME STATS: KANSAS 39, ARIZONA 30

The most revealing first-half stat? Kansas has 14 assists and Arizona has 3. The Jayhawks are moving the ball, driving and kicking and getting wide-open looks around the basket. Arizona has been stagnant on offense and is settling for contested jumpers.

Trey Townsend leads Arizona with 7 points and 3 rebounds off the bench. Jaden Bradley has 6 points and Caleb Love has 5.

Hunter Dickinson leads all scorers with 14 points and 5 rebounds, and K.J. Adams has 10 points.

FIRST HALF RECAP

Kansas 39, Arizona 30, halftime: The Wildcats finish the half on a 5-0 run to stay within striking distance, but they were completely outplayed by Kansas in the first half.

KJ Lewis ice cold: Kansas is daring Arizona guard KJ Lewis to shoot 3-pointers, and he is 0-of-4 from downtown and 1-of-7 from the field. He also has 2 turnovers. Tough first half for Lewis.

Kansas 35, Arizona 25, 2:35 left: Kansas has taken 10 more shots than Arizona, which is the difference so far. The extra possessions have come on turnovers (Arizona has five) and offensive rebounds (Kansas has five).

Kansas 28, Arizona 20, 5:01 left: Hunter Dickinson is on fire. Kansas' big man has 14 points, 5 rebounds and his having his way inside. Timeout Tommy Lloyd.

Awaka vs. Dickinson: Arizona's Tobe Awaka is at least six inches shorter than Kansas big man Hunter Dickinson, but he's banging with him down low. Awaka hits a fadeaway over Dickinson to make it Kansas 18, Arizona 17 with just over 8 minutes left.

Arizona 15, Kansas 13, 10:00 left: The Wildcats take their first lead of the game on a tough pull-up jumper from KJ Lewis.

Kansas 13, Arizona 12, 12:10 left: The Wildcats have turned up the defensive pressure and are back in this game. Trey Townsend leads Arizona with 4 points off the bench. The game is streaming on ESPNews. The Alabama-Auburn game on ESPN is in overtime.

Kansas feeding K.J. Adams: On Senior Night in Allen Fieldhouse K.J. Adams has come out with big energy. He already has 6 points — on three dunks — to give Kansas an 11-4 lead at the first TV timeout.

Kansas 7, Arizona 2, 17:20 left: Anthony Dell'Orso has already turned the ball over twice for Arizona.

PREGAME UPDATES

With the Alabama vs. Auburn game running long on ESPN, the Arizona-Kansas game will tip off on ESPNews and the ESPN app at approximately 2:35 p.m. MST.

More Arizona & Big 12 Analysis

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Ben Sherman
BEN SHERMAN

Ben Sherman has been covering the sports world for most of his 27-year journalism career, including 17 years with The Oregonian/OregonLive. A basketball junkie, March Madness is his favorite time of the year.

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