ARIZONA SCOUTING REPORT
No. 1 seed Arizona (31-2) vs No. 2 seed Houston (28-5)
• Big 12 Tournament championship game * T-Mobile Center, Kansas City * 3 p.m., Saturday • ESPN • 1290-AM
ARIZONA
Probable starters
0 Jaden Bradley G 6-3 senior
5 Brayden Burries G 6-4 freshman
18 Ivan Kharchenkov F 6-7 freshman
10 Koa Peat F 6-8 freshman
13 Motiejus Krivas C 7-2 junior
Key reserves
30 Tobe Awaka F 6-8 senior
3 Anthony Dell’Orso F 6-6 senior
2 Dwayne Aristode F 6-8 freshman
HOUSTON
Probable starters
4 Kingston Flemings G 6-4 freshman
7 Milos Uzan G 6-4 senior
21 Emanuel Sharp G 6-3 senior
11 Joseph Tugler F 6-8 junior
5 Chris Cenac C 6-11 freshman
Key reserves
1 Isiah Harwell F 6-6 freshman
14 Kalifa Sakho C 6-11 senior
24 Chase McCarty F 6-5 freshman
25 Mercy Miller 6-4 sophomore
HOW THEY MATCH UP
How they got here: Arizona went 16-2 to win the Big 12 regular-season title and earn the No. 1 Big 12 Tournament seed, then beat UCF 81-59 in the quarterfinals and Iowa State 82-80 in the semifinals. Houston went 14-4 to finish second in the Big 12, then beat BYU 73-66 in the quarterfinals and Kansas 69-47 in the semifinals.
This season: Anthony Dell’Orso had a then-season-high 22 points on 8-for-14 shooting to lead Arizona to a 73-66 win at Houston on Feb. 21. The Wildcats were playing without forward Koa Peat (lower leg injury) and Dwayne Aristode (illness) but received scoring punch from Dell’Orso, Ivan Kharchenkov (16 points) and Jaden Bradley (17).
Series history: Arizona's Feb. 21 win was the Wildcats’ first under coach Tommy Lloyd against Houston after three losses. The Cougars beat UA 72-60 in the 2022 NCAA Sweet 16, then twice last season, 62-58 at McKale Center and 72-64 in the final of the Big 12 tournament. Before that, Arizona swept a home-and-home series over Houston in 2007-08 and 2008-09.
What’s new with the Cougars: Picked to finish first in the Big 12, Houston fell out of first for good on Feb. 21, and they also lost 69-56 at Kansas two days later. But since then, Houston has won five straight, beating Colorado, Baylor and Oklahoma State to finish the regular season before winning two games in the Big 12 tournament, possibly playing their best of the season.
The Cougars rank fifth in overall defensive efficiency and 16th in offensive efficiency, with an aggressive defense that ranks seventh nationally in defensive tutrnover percentage (13.1), blocking an average of 6.4% of opponents’ two-point shots and stealing the ball on 7.2% of opponents’ possessions.
Key players
Houston – Kingston Flemings
Though he lost out to BYU’s AJ Dybantsa for the Big 12 Freshman of the Year award, Flemings actually ranks No. 3 among all players in Kenpom’s Player of the Year rankings for his versatile and efficient two-way game.
Houston's Kingston Flemings (4) drives to the basket past Kansas' Jamari McDowell (11) during the second half in the semifinal round of the Big 12 Conference Tournament Friday, March 13, 2026, in Kansas City, Mo.
Arizona – Anthony Dell’Orso
Scoring 26 points while hitting six 3-pointers against Iowa State wasn’t the first time Dell’Orso has made an opponent pay for heavily emphasizing inside defense: He also did much the same thing at Houston on Feb. 21, when the Cougars didn’t even have to worry about Koa Peat but still double-teamed Motiejus Krivas and Tobe Awaka.
SIDELINES
Wrestling match
After Arizona’s Jaden Bradley hit a game-winning shot Friday to beat Iowa State, UA trainer Justin Kokoskie wasn’t just celebrating.
He was also in fear.
UA players mobbed Bradley “WWE style,” Kokoskie said, making him worry Bradley might get injured. As it was, Bradley eventually retreated to the locker room with a small bloody circle on the right side of his forehead that Kokoskie said he received in the mob.
Oh well. Bradley wasn’t complaining.
“I don't even know” what happened, he said. ”It's a gritty game. Probably scratched myself. I don't know.”
Tough call
The dean of Big 12 men’s basketball coaches, Kansas’ Bill Self, was asked after the Jayhawks lost 69-47 to second-seeded Houston who would win the final between UH and UA.
"Three teams that played today out of the four played like teams that would have a chance to go as deep as anybody," Self said. "We didn't, obviously. But I think it will be a coin flip game. Should be a fabulous final."
Kenpom’s analytic engine forecasts Arizona winning 72-69.
Big picture
Playing Arizona for the Big 12 Tournament championship might appear to offer Houston something of a make-up opportunity, since the Wildcats beat them out for a regular-season title the Cougars were picked to win.
But veteran Houston guard Emanuel Sharp said he doesn’t look at it that way.
"It does not make it up. We just lost the league. It is what it is,” Sharp said. “We’re just trying to get better, and that’s winning every game that we play. We approach every game that way.”
The Cougars lost the league because they lost three straight games in February, to Iowa State, Arizona and Kansas. But since then the Cougars have won five games by an average of 17.8 points.
Maybe they are better.
“During that three-game stretch we wanted to win but I’d rather lose those games and learn from them and get better going forward,” Sharp said. Against Arizona “I had to play better defense, I gotta play better team defense. I felt I played selfishly at home and it really hurt the team.”
Numbers game
7 – Arizona players who have made 100 or more field goals this season, after Anthony Dell’Orso reached the 105 by going 10 for 14 against Iowa State, the only power conference team to have achieved as many.
8 – Double-doubles this season by reserve forward Tobe Awaka, who had 10 points and 10 rebounds against Iowa State.
89.1 – Free throw shooting percentage of Houston’s Emanuel Sharp, ranking him 38th nationally.
-- Bruce Pascoe
