March 13, 2026; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Arizona Wildcats guard Braden Bury (5) collides with Iowa State Cyclones guard Tamin Lipsey (3) during the first half at T-Mobile Center. Mandatory Credit: William Purnell-Imagn Image Jayden Bradley sent the Wildcats to the Big 12 Tournament title game by sinking an 18-foot jumper as time expired to give top-seeded Arizona a dramatic 82-80 victory over fifth-seeded Iowa State on Friday night in Kansas City, Missouri.
Anthony Dell’Orso hit a career-high of six 3-pointers and scored 26 points for the second-place Wildcats (31-2). The Wildcats will face either No. 2 seed and No. 5 Houston or No. 3 seed and No. 14 Kansas in the conference title game on Saturday. The latter two teams play on Friday night.
Ivan Kharchenkov scored 17 points and Bradley had 15 points and 7 assists as Arizona won its 8th game in a row.
Iowa State’s Tamin Lipsey hit a 3-pointer to tie the game at 80 with 15.2 seconds left in the game.
Bradley was guarded by Iowa State’s Killyan Toure on the final play, splitting to his right before firing a high-arching shot toward Toure that went through the basket.
Milan Momsilovic had 28 points, tying his career high of eight 3-pointers, for the seventh-ranked Cyclones (27-7), who are 0-2 against Arizona this season.
Joshua Jefferson had 21 points and Toure had 12 for Iowa State, which shot 47 percent and was 14 of 31 from behind the arc (45.2 percent).
Tobe Awaka added 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Wildcats, who shot 55.2% from the field and were 8 of 16 from 3-point range.
Toure scored Iowa State’s fifth straight point as the Cyclones built a 60-54 lead with 11:52 left in the contest.
Arizona scored eight straight points on an inside basket by Awaka and two on treys by Dell’Orso to take a 62-60 advantage with 10 minutes, 16 seconds to play.
The Wildcats took a 68-65 lead on Bradley’s basket with 5:33 left, and Kharchenkov’s jumper with 4:09 left gave them a five-point lead.
Momcilovic’s trey brought the Cyclones up 78-77 with 1:17 left and Bradley’s basket put Arizona ahead by three with 46.1 seconds left.
Momcilovic hit three straight 3-pointers to close the first half and give the Cyclones a 43-37 halftime lead. The last two came in the final 12 seconds, including one as time expired.
The flurry had 14 points in the first half from Momcilovic. Iowa State also got 12 points from Jefferson in the first 20 minutes. Dell’Orso scored 12 points in the first half for the Wildcats.
Iowa State got off to a fast start and Jefferson’s trey gave the Cyclones a 14-2 lead just four minutes into the contest.
Awaka’s layup with 2:04 left in the half gave the Wildcats their first lead at 35-34, and Koa Peat’s goal 30 seconds later made it 9-0.
–Field level media
