Wildcats' Burries Shares Secret to Career-Best Day

The Arizona Wildcats continued their strong season in the Big 12 opener on Jan. 3, crushing the Utah Utes by a score of 97-78 in a road victory.

After going undefeated in non-conference play, the #1-ranked Wildcats started off Big 12 play in the same fashion. Arizona flexed its depth in the win. Jaden Bradley, and Tobe Awaka scored 18 points, and Koa Peat and Brayden Burries each added 17 points to help push the Wildcats to an easy victory to open up Big 12 play.

Burries was asked after the game about Arizona’s ability to keep their foot on the gas after getting out to a 58-39 lead at halftime, and never surrendering that large lead.

Just trusting one another,” Burries said. “Coach told us, there’s going to be ups and downs. So let’s just lean on each other, have each other’s back. The crowd got loud, but we just stayed poised and had a great mindset.”

Burries is second on the team in points per game at 14.2 points, just behind Koa Peat’s team-high 14.4 points per contest. He’ll look to keep up his high-level scoring throughout the remainder of conference play.

Jan 3, 2026; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Arizona Wildcats guard Brayden Burries (5) drives to the basket against Utah Utes guard Don McHenry (3) during the first half at Jon M. Huntsman Center. Mandatory Credit: Rob Gray-Imagn Images | Rob Gray-Imagn Images

The 20-year-old freshman also grabbed 11 rebounds in the win over Utah to earn his first double-double of the season. Burries was asked about his high activity on the glass, to which he cited the Arizona coaching staff as his main motivator for his high-energy play.

“Just coach getting on me about getting rebounds,” Burries said. “That’s what I’m supposed to do, get us extra possessions. If I rebound, it makes the bigs’ job easier, and they can just run down the floor.”

“I think there’s a lot of ways to look at the game of basketball,” head coach Tommy Lloyd added. “I think if you look at successful college teams, the one thing that they can do, they’re there for the fight. For the physical battle, they’re there. I think that’s been proven.”

Arizona currently has all the makings of a true National Championship contender, and now they’ll add this blowout victory to open up conference play to an already impressive resume. The Wildcats are currently 4-0 in Quad 1 games, and 2-0 in Quad 2 chances, giving them an already impressive resume just four days into January. They’ll be back in action on Jan. 7 for a home matchup with the Wildcats of Kansas State.

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