No. 2 Arizona Dominates No. 14 Kansas To Clinch Share Of The Big 12 Regular Season Title

Jacob Perrine
Arizona Wildcats forward Koa Peat (10) dunks the ball during the first half of the game against the Kansas Jayhawks.

In a dream season in program history, the 2nd-ranked Arizona Wildcats took care of business against the 14th-ranked Kansas Jayhawks in an 84-61 victory to clinch a share of the Big 12 regular season title in just their second season in the conference.

Koa Peat Shines in Return from Injury for Arizona

After missing the past two weeks due to a lower leg muscle strain against No. 16 Texas Tech on February 14, Wildcats star freshman Koa Peat made an immediate impact in his first game back. Peat finished the game with 12 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists as he outclassed the entire Jayhawks team early in the first half.

The Wildcats went on two separate 14-0 runs in the game to balloon their lead in each half. While Peat took over the headlines, it was the Wildcats’ other star freshman, Brayden Burris, who continued his electric first year in an Arizona uniform yet again. Burries would drop his 3rd double-double of the season, as he finished with 20 points and 12 rebounds in the win.

Burrie’s effort on the glass highlighted another dominant outing on the backboard for the Wildcats, as they outrebounded Kansas 46 to 22 in the game. Although the Jayhawks were able to trim the Wildcats’ early 18-point lead down to just 2 points midway through the second half, Arizona wouldn’t falter any further from that point on.

The Wildcats would go on a 16-0 run, extending their lead from a slim 49-47 to 65-47, as Arizona effectively shut down the Jayhawks’ offense. The Wildcats’ number two-ranked defense would flex its muscles in this game, holding Kansas to just 33% from the field in the win.

Jayhawks Offense Struggles Outside of Darryn Peterson

In an all-too-common occurrence this season it was the Darryn Peterson show and not much else for Kansas in another bad loss. Peterson would account for nearly half of the Jayhawks’ 61 total points, with 24 points in a nice scoring outing for the potential number one overall pick.

Only three players would score in double figures for Kansas, with the Jayhawks only getting a total of 7 points from the bench in the loss. The biggest disappointment for the Jayhawks in the game came from Flory Bidunga, who essentially was erased from the game by the Wildcats frontcourt tonight.

Bidunga would finish with just 2 points and 4 rebounds, which is a far cry from his first game against Arizona, where he dropped 23 points and 10 rebounds earlier this month. This game marked the second straight single-digit scoring game for Bidunga in the past week.

Arizona Now One Win Away from Outright Big 12 Title

After setting the record for the best start in Big 12 history earlier this season, the Wildcats are now on the verge of further building upon their already historic season. Arizona now sits just two games away from securing the third-best in-conference record in a single season in Big 12 history.

The two teams ahead of the Wildcats in finishing with a better record were the 1996-97 and 2001-02 Kansas Jayhawks, who were the only two teams to finish the Big 12 season undefeated. Arizona will have two more games to clinch the Big 12 title outright.

What’s Next

At home against No. 4 Iowa State on Monday, then at Boulder against Colorado next Saturday to cap off the conference season. If the Wildcats can clinch the outright Big 12 regular-season championship, they will have guaranteed a top-2 seed heading into the NCAA tournament next month.