KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Milos Uzan scored a career-high 25 points to lead top-seeded Houston to a 72-64 victory over third-seeded Arizona in the championship game of the Big 12 tournament on Saturday night.
It was the first time in the 29-year history of the Big 12 championship that the final game did not include at least one team from the former Big 8 Conference.
It was the first Big 12 tournament title for second-ranked Houston. The Cougars have won nine tournament titles overall, with their most recent coming in the American Athletic Conference in 2022.
“I’m proud to represent the Big 12,” Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said. “I’m not going to come off my statement that the Big 12 champion has been decided over 10 weeks now. This is an honor for our kids. I’m glad our kids get to come to the tournament. Had we lost today, this would have been a great experience for them.”
Houston (30-4) won the regular season with a 19-1 record, claiming the league title by four games over second-place Texas Tech and five games over Arizona.
Houston forward J’Wan Roberts, who is fourth on the team in scoring (10.8 points per game) and first in rebounding (6.8 rpg), watched the game with his right foot in a walking boot. The Cougars got 17 points from Emanuel Sharp, who was named Most Outstanding Player of the tournament.
Arizona (22-12) got 19 points from Caleb Love, 14 from Jaden Bradley and 11 from KJ Lewis.
“Congrats to Houston,” Wildcats coach Tommy Lloyd said. “Obviously, they’ve had a great season. “Coach Samson deserves a ton of credit. They got us twice this year, they won the conference by four or five games, and they won the conference tournament. At this moment, they’re the king of the Big 12. I have nothing but respect for them.”
Houston scored the first six points of the second half to retake the lead at 34-33, and the teams traded blows from there. Neither team was able to take more than a five-point lead until Houston went up 54-46 with 12:12 left.
But as soon as Houston went up by 10 points, Arizona responded, taking a 62-61 lead on Tobe Awaka’s basket with 5:32 left. Uzan then scored all the points on a 5-0 run as the Cougars led 66-62 with 2:33 left.
“Once we got to halftime, we kind of got reorganized and did a much better job of attacking their defense, looking for the matchups that we thought we had a chance to win,” Sampson said. “We listed two or three guys that we felt like if we could (go against) any of those three, that allowed us to get to the offensive boards.”
Love hit two free throws with 1:38 left, cutting it to a one-possession game. Sharp’s 3-pointer was off-target, but Arizona committed a turnover on its next possession. Ja’Vier Francis’ dunk with 43 seconds left put the Cougars back up by four points.
Another Arizona turnover sealed its fate.
“I’m proud of our guys,” Lloyd said. “We came here and wanted to compete for a championship, and that we did. The last couple minutes of the game, we’re right there. We had a lead there under four minutes to go, and we gave ourselves a chance. We just didn’t get it done. So hopefully we’ll learn from it.”
The first-half pace fit better for Houston, though Arizona used a 15-2 run to take a 26-21 lead late in the first half. The Wildcats led 33-28 at halftime.
The Wildcats got 14 points from Love. The Cougars were led by Uzan and Sharp, who each tallied eight points in the half.
“Arizona was a good team,” Sampson said. “They’re huge inside. We were undersized, but not undertoughed. Our kids were tough today.”
–David Smale, Field Level Media
