Inside The Wildcats

Who will Arizona play in Big 12 men's basketball tournament?

The Wildcats are facing a tough road to the Big 12 Tournament championship
Ben Sherman|
Arizona Wildcats guard Caleb Love (1) drives to the basket around Kansas Jayhawks guard Dajuan Harris Jr. (3) during the first half at Allen Fieldhouse.
Arizona Wildcats guard Caleb Love (1) drives to the basket around Kansas Jayhawks guard Dajuan Harris Jr. (3) during the first half at Allen Fieldhouse. | William Purnell-Imagn Images

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The good news: Tommy Lloyd's Arizona Wildcats (20-11, 14-6) earned a double-bye in the Big 12 men's basketball tournament, which means they don't have to play until the quarterfinals on Thursday.

The not-so-good news: Arizona will likely have to face preseason national championship favorite Kansas again in the quarterfinals. And the tournament is in Kansas City, which is basically a home game for the Jayhawks.

Kansas beat Arizona 83-76 on Saturday behind 33 points and 10 rebounds from 7-foot-2 fifth-year senior Hunter Dickinson. Kansas coach Bill Self relentlessly attacked mismatches in the paint and Dickinson shot 15-of-23 against the Wildcats much smaller defenders.

Henri Veesaar, a 7-foot redshirt sophomore, is the only Arizona defender long enough to bother Dickinson's array of post moves and spot-up jumpers. But Veesaar got into foul trouble, leaving 6-foot-8 junior Tobe Awaka and 6-foot-8 freshman Carter Bryant on Dickinson for long stretches of the game.

Arizona's path to Big 12 Tournament championship

The Jayhawks finished with the No. 6 seed in the Big 12 Tournament and will play the winner of Utah vs. UCF in the second round on Wednesday. The winner of that game will play Arizona in the quarterfinals — which means Lloyd has four days to figure out how to defend Dickinson.

If Arizona can beat Kansas in the quarterfinals, they will likely face Texas Tech in Friday's semifinals. 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

Big 12 semifinals - Friday, 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

Arizona needs to win at least two games in the Big 12 Tournament to stay on the 4 or 5-seed line in the NCAA Tournament. The Wildcats have lost five of their last eight games and back-to-back losses to Kansas would likely drop them to a No. 6 seed at best.

Selection Sunday is March 16 and the NCAA Tournament starts March 18 with First Four games.

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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