March 12, 2026; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Arizona Wildcats guard Brayden Burris (5) shoots the ball past UCF Knights forward Jordan Burks (99) during the first half at T-Mobile Center. Mandatory Credit: William Purnell-Imagn Image Brayden Burries scored 21 points and top-seeded Arizona never trailed in an 81-59 win over eighth-seeded UCF on Thursday afternoon in Kansas City to advance to the Big 12 Tournament semifinals.
Tobe Awaka had 12 points and 12 rebounds in the quarterfinals, and Koa Pitt also had 12 points for the Wildcats (30-2). Ivan Kharchenkov added 10 points for Arizona.
Themus Fulks had 14 points for the Knights (21-11), who are expected to earn an at-large berth in the NCAA Tournament. Jordan Burks and Chris Johnson added 10 points each for UCF.
Arizona will face fifth-seeded Iowa State in the first semifinal Friday night.
UCF’s John Bol was helped off the court with a chest injury with 11:07 left in the game and fell to the floor with his hand touching his chest. He had 6 points and 5 rebounds.
Arizona shot 48.3% from the field, including 6 of 16 3-pointers, and led by as many as 27 points.
The Knights made 36.5% of their attempts and were just 3 of 21 from behind the arc.
UCF threatened to make it a game after cutting a 27-point halftime deficit to 54-42 on Johnson’s floater with 11:49 left in the game.
But Awaka converted a 3-point play to get it back up to 15. Moments later, Motiejus Krivas hit two free throws to give the Wildcats a 61-44 advantage with 8:22 left in the game.
The Knights got another attempt on baskets by Johnson and Burks to move within 13 with 7:24 to go.
The Wildcats pushed the lead back to 66-49 on Peat’s dunk with 5:31 left.
Fulks’ trey got UCF within 12 minutes before Burries went on a personal 7-0 burst to give Arizona a 73-54 lead with 3:32 left.
Kharchenkov increased the lead to 22 points with a 3-point play with 2:53 left as the Wildcats closed out.
Arizona scored seven straight points in the first half of the game and took a 14-2 lead before the first five minutes of play.
Awaka made back-to-back baskets to make it 20-6 with 13:11 left in the first half. Johnson scored next for UCF before the Wildcats scored 15 straight points.
Peat scored the final five goals of the game to give Arizona a 35-8 lead with 7:38 left in the first half.
The Knights later scored 18 of the final 25 points of the first half to make it 46-30 at the break.
–Field level media
