Arizona Edges Houston in Big 12 Championship Thriller

Wildcats' clutch shooting downs Cougars in close conference title game

Mar. 15, 2026 at 4:24pm

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The Houston basketball team fell just short in the Big 12 conference tournament championship game, losing 79-74 to Arizona on Saturday night. Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson praised the Wildcats' offense, particularly their ability to hit clutch shots late in the shot clock to hold off the Cougars' second-half comeback attempt.

Why it matters

The loss is a tough one for Houston, which had been chasing Arizona as the top program in the Big 12 conference. The Wildcats avenged their defeat to the Cougars in last year's conference tournament title game, solidifying their status as an elite team in college basketball.

The details

Arizona used a strong first half to build an eight-point lead, which Houston was unable to fully overcome despite outscoring the Wildcats 38-35 in the second half. Sampson highlighted a couple of Arizona's late-clock 3-pointers, including a banked-in shot, as key plays that deflated the Cougars' comeback efforts.

  • The Big 12 conference tournament championship game was played on Saturday, March 15, 2026.

The players

Kelvin Sampson

The head coach of the Houston Cougars basketball team.

Tommy Lloyd

The head coach of the Arizona Wildcats basketball team.

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What they’re saying

“The shot clock was running down. We were playing great defense, and they banked a ball in from 20 feet. Takes a little bit of air out of your balloon, a little bit, until they do it again three possessions later.”

— Kelvin Sampson, Head Coach, Houston Cougars (PHNX Wildcats)

“We got in the Big 12, and I learned real quick we were looking up and chasing a program, and it was Houston. And not that we were fixated on the chase, but it gave us a great barometer for what we felt we had to do in our program.”

— Tommy Lloyd, Head Coach, Arizona Wildcats (Associated Press)

What’s next

Houston will now wait to see where they are seeded in the upcoming NCAA tournament.

The takeaway

This game highlighted the competitiveness of the Big 12 conference, with the top two teams in the league battling down to the wire. While Houston came up short, the Cougars proved they can hang with the elite programs in college basketball.