When Arizona was 11-1 in the Big 12 and tied for first place after beating Texas Tech on Feb. 8, that hot start to its first season in conference was tempered by knowing the final stretch of league play was going to be a gauntlet. And it proved to be as tough as expected.
The Wildcats lost 83-76 at Kansas on Saturday afternoon in their regular season finale, their fifth loss in the last eight games. But thanks to the strong start the UA (20-11, 14-6) will be the No. 3 seed in next week’s Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City, getting a double bye into Thursday’s quarterfinals.
Arizona led for only 2:22 at Allen Fieldhouse, but that included a 2-point edge with just over six minutes to go before Kansas (20-11, 11-9) outscored the Wildcats 17-8 the rest of the way to win its 42nd consecutive Senior Day game.
Jaden Bradley scored 21 points, one off his career high, making 7 of 11 shots and hitting all seven free throws, while Caleb Love had 16, Trey Townsend 13 (with three 3s) and Tobe Awaka 10 along with nine rebounds for Arizona, which shot 47.3 percent overall and 37.5 percent from 3 but was outrebounded 36-30.
Kansas shot 49.3 percent, with senior center Hunter Dickinson scoring 33 points on 15-of-23 shooting as Arizona opted not to double him like many teams do. Dickinson also had 10 rebounds while Zeke Mayo went for 20 and KJ Adams 12 including four dunks.
The Jayhawks assisted on 22 of 33 field goals compared to 10 of 26 for Arizona.
The UA trailed 39-30 at halftime but was within four after Townsend hit his second 3, forcing a Kansas timeout with 16:18 left. A 3-point play by Bradley got the Wildcats within 50-47.
Dickinson drained a 3 from the top of the key before Arizona ran off seven in a row, with Love’s 3 putting it up[ 54-53 and forcing a second timeout from the Jayhawks in less than three minutes.
There were five lead changes in a 2-minute span before it became a game of runs. Kansas scored seven in a row to lead 64-59, then a steal and score from Love capped a 7-0 Arizona run for a 68-66 lead with 6:02 remaining only to see the Jayhawks match that run to lead 73-68 with 3:59 left.
Dickinson tied his career high with a hook shot that bounced in for a 77-72 lead with 2:16 to go and a lob to Adams made it a 3-score game with 1:22 left.
Arizona fell behind 11-4 before the first media timeout, with a pair of traveling calls against Anthony Dell’Orso on one end and three Adams dunks on the other contributing to the early deficit. The Wildcats settled down after that and a 9-0 run gave them their first lead on a KJ Lewis jumper.
Kansas missed eight consecutive shots before going on a 15-3 run to build a 30-20 lead, with Dickinson the main scorer. The run coincided with Henri Veesaar picking up his second foul, completely opening up the paint for the Jayhawks, which extended the lead to 39-25 late in the first half.
Five straight by Arizona in the final minute got it within single digits at the break.
Arizona is off until Thursday when it will face an opponent to be determined in the quarterfinals in Kansas City. The most likely foe is Kansas, which earned the No. 6 seed but would need to beat the winner of the No. 11 and No. 14 seeds to play the Wildcats.