WACO, Texas — To maximize their leverage in a league where “load management” is a thing, some NBA prospects have been known to shy away from performing at all in college games when not at their best.
Brayden Burries had the perfect excuse to be one of those guys. He couldn’t breathe.
Well, he could. But not enough to play elite-level college basketball, the kind the Arizona guard has quickly proven capable of as a freshman this season, for two games.
Those were Arizona's games against BYU and Houston last week in which Burries averaged 30.5 minutes, his offense way off the mark, but his effort despite a bout of bronchitis helping the Wildcats get by well enough.
Arizona guard Brayden Burries (5) drives to the basket as Baylor's Tounde Yessoufou (24) defends in the first half in Waco, Texas, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026.
“I was about to sit out, but the coaches said they would help me through it and to trust them, that it will help me,” Burries said. The plan was “to just play through it and that’s basically what happened.”
Burries credited his teammates for elevating their games, leading the Wildcats to wins over both BYU and Houston when his efforts were limited. But UA coach Tommy Lloyd, figuring a partial Burries was better than no Burries, especially considering the Wildcats’ other availability issues, credited him for showing up.
"For him just be out there says a lot," Lloyd said after UA beat Houston on Feb. 21.
Then, in No. 2-ranked Arizona’s 87-80 win at Baylor on Tuesday, it wasn’t just Burries' teammates who managed well enough. It was also Burries, despite saying he’s still not fully recovered, playing like he is.
“Today was the best he’s looked,” Lloyd said after his postgame news conference Tuesday. “Thank God.”
It was just in time for the Wildcats. Without forwards Koa Peat (lower-leg injury) and Dwayne Aristode (undisclosed illness), Arizona had filled enough holes to beat BYU and Houston, especially thanks to wings Ivan Kharchenkov and Anthony Dell’Orso, but things weren’t going so well for them in the first half against Baylor on Tuesday.
The Wildcats allowed Baylor to shoot 54% from the field and outrebound them 19-14, while UA's six first-half turnovers turned into 16 Baylor points.
For the game, Kharchenkov and Dell'Orso were less effective than they were in leading UA to the BYU and Houston games: Kharchenkov had only eight points but managed six rebounds and six assists, while Dell'Orso, despite furiously rehabbing the ankle he sprained against Houston, also had only eight points on 3-for-7 shooting.
Arizona forward Ivan Kharchenkov (8) drives to the basket against Baylor defenders in the first half in Waco, Texas, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026.
Baylor led 41-34 at halftime and 44-34 just 16 seconds into the second half.
But Burries had 14 of his 24 points after halftime, when Arizona overcame a 10-point deficit with a 14-2 run, turning the game into a mesmerizing second half in which the Bears and Wildcats traded shot after shot.
Burries went just 1 for 3 from 3-point range but was relentless attacking the basket, including a one-handed dunk with just over eight minutes to go. And in the final 3:02, just a minute after UA took the lead for good, Burries had seven points and a bullet assist to Motiejus Krivas for an inside score.
Nothing was holding him back this time.
“I was able to breathe a little bit better, but that's all it was,” Burries said. “Honestly, the past few games, I couldn't really breathe. I couldn't really do anything. Especially when I had the ball, I couldn't move because I’d just be tired or I’d start coughing and spitting.”
Burries said he kept feeling something in his chest and throat that capped his efforts.
“I couldn’t breathe. I was very limited,” Burries said. “It was hard breathing when I was out there.”
Burries had shot a combined 5 for 18 from the field against BYU and Houston, and just 5 of 9 from the free-throw line. After the BYU game, he even posted an Instagram story that showed an IV going into an arm.
But Burries had just one turnover during those 61 combined minutes, and Lloyd praised his “competive character” for gutting it out.
“To come out and and play for your team when you're not feeling great, says a lot about Brayden as a competitor and a person,” Lloyd said after UA’s Feb. 18 win over BYU.
A support system helped him get there.
Burries said his family had prayed for him and supported him, while over 20 of them showed up for Tuesday’s game at Baylor. Within the program, UA athletic trainer Justin Kokoskie executed a plan in which Burries was given medications and did breathing treatments with a nebulizer, among other things.
Burries and his family went along with it.
“It’s hard — especially nowadays, when you get sick, it’s like 'God, let me sit out for a week,'" Kokoskie said. “But he fought for it. Give him credit. Give his parents credit.”
Together with Dell’Orso’s all-day rehab work to get back after he sprained his left ankle against Houston, and Kharchenkov’s efforts to defend and rebound in a game when his offense wasn’t always there, Kokoskie said the Wildcats had enough Tuesday that Lloyd told the Wildcats it was a “culture win.”
That’s pretty much what Lloyd told the media afterwards. He talked about getting “reinforcements soon,” saying Peat appeared to be nearing a return, but also relieved to see that his players gave him enough to get by on Tuesday.
“We just don't have a lot of options right now,” Lloyd said. “We’ve just got to get through it, and our medical staff's doing a great job making our guys available ...
Arizona guard Anthony Dell'Orso (3) reacts as UA trainer Justin Kokoskie helps him up in the second half against Houston, Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026, in Houston.
“I just think the toughness that our guys are showing physically right now ... I'm not saying we're more hurt than anybody else, but you have to deal with it, and you have to fight to get wins in these games. Our guys are doing a great job fighting for the program.”
Four months into his college basketball career, Burries is all in. His Wildcats (26-2 overall, 13-2 in the Big 12) can clinch a share of the Big 12 title with a win over Houston on Saturday, after all.
"We have a great team — so many players are hurt or sick, and we all just come together," Burries said. "I feel like our culture and our connection with each other is so strong that we want to play for one another. We've got a bigger goal set ahead, to win."
