Brayden Burries scores 21 as No. 2 Arizona survives No. 5 Houston 79-74 in Big 12 final rematch

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Arizona guard Jaden Bradley had just emerged from the locker room, his left wrist tightly taped after a collision left him holding it in pain. Koa Peat was mired in foul trouble, and Houston was making a big run in the Big 12 Tournament title game

All season long, the second-ranked Wildcats had demonstrated their talent.

On Saturday night, they proved their resilience.

Brayden Burries broke out of a slump with 21 points, including a pair of clinching free throws with 8.3 seconds left. Peat also had 21 points and Bradley, who hit the semifinal game-winner against Iowa State, finished with 13 as Arizona held on for a 79-74 victory over the fifth-ranked Cougars in a rematch of last year's championship game.

“They're just resilient, you know? And they just have this unbreakable spirit,” Tommy Lloyd, the Big 12 coach of the year, said of his Wildcats. “These guys do an amazing job of figuring it out in tough moments.”

It's a talent that should serve the Wildcats (32-2) well going into next week's NCAA Tournament. They've won nine straight since their only two losses of the season, and six of those wins have come against ranked opponents.

“We got in the Big 12 and I learned real quick we were looking up and chasing a program, and it was Houston,” Lloyd said. “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.”

The Wildcats, who lost to the Cougars 72-64 in their Big 12 title game debut a year ago, led 75-66 with just over a minute left on Saturday night before Mercy Miller and Milos Uzan hit 3s on consecutive possessions to give Houston a chance.

But when Peat missed a jumper with 22 seconds to go, Arizona big man Motiejus Krivas gathered the rebound and was fouled under the bucket. The 7-foot-2 junior from Lithuania calmly made both free throws to extend the Wildcats' lead.

Kingston Flemings and Miller missed layups at the other end for Houston (28-6), and by the time Miller was fouled and made two free throws, there was just 13.2 seconds to go. Burries was fouled on the inbound pass and put away the game.

“You had the two best teams in the Big 12 fighting down the stretch. Either team could have won the game," Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said. “Sometimes it comes down to a break. Sometimes it comes down to a whistle. Sometimes it comes down to a bounce. When two teams are evenly matched like they were today, that's what it comes down to.”

The championship matchup — one befitting of a Final Four — was close throughout the first half until Burries, who'd missed 11 straight shots going back to a quarterfinal win over UCF, finally got hot for Arizona. The All-Big 12 guard hit four in a row late in the first half, scoring the Wildcats' last 10 points and giving them a 44-36 advantage at the break.

They stretched the lead to 15 points in the second half as the game became more physical.

In a span of a few minutes, Bradley hurt his wrist in a collision and briefly went to the locker room. Peat was slow getting up after he was hammered on a shot. And during a scrap for a loose ball, five bodies hit the floor, and when a jump ball was finally called, Burries and Houston forward Kalifa Sakho laid on the court unwilling to let go.

Houston was still trailing 59-44 when it finally went on its big run, scoring 14 straight points and nearly drawing even.

But the unflappable Burries answered with a three-point play, Ivan Kharchenko scored on three straight trips down floor for the Wildcats, and they managed to regain just enough breathing room to survive all the way to the finish.

“Arizona is really good,” Sampson said. “If Arizona had lost to Houston, I'd have said the same thing. ‘Arizona lost to a really good team. There’s no shame in Arizona losing to Houston.' And I'll say the same thing the other way. Arizona is really good.”

Houston will likely be a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament and play first- and second-round games in Oklahoma City. Perhaps more importantly, the Cougars would play their regional semifinal in Houston should they advance.

Arizona should have a short trip to San Diego for its opening weekend games in the NCAA Tournament. If the Wildcats advance, the projected No. 1 seed would head up the coast to San Jose, California for the second weekend.

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Houston's Joseph Tugler (11) chases a loose ball between Arizona's Tobe Awaka (30) and Anthony Dell'Orso (3) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in the championship of the Big 12 Conference tournament Saturday, March 14, 2026, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, accompanied by his teenage daughter, observed a live-fire test of multiple rocket launch systems, state media reported Sunday, a likely response to ongoing U.S.-South Korean military training that North Korea views as an invasion rehearsal.

The official Korean Central News Agency reported that Kim watched the strike drill involving twelve 600mm-calibre, ultraprecision rocket launchers off North Korea's east coast on Saturday.

South Korea’s military said Saturday it detected about 10 ballistic missiles fired from North Korea’s capital region toward the eastern sea. South Korea’s national security council called the launches a provocation that violated U.N. Security Council resolutions that bans any ballistic activities by North Korea.

KCNA cited Kim as saying that the drill would expose enemies within the 420-kilometer (260-mile) striking range, to “uneasiness” and give them “a deep understanding of the destructive power of tactical nuclear weapon,” KCNA said. He apparently referred to South Korea and U.S. troops stationed in South Korea.

“If this weapon is used, the opponent’s military infrastructure within its striking range can never survive,” Kim said, according to KCNA.

KCNA photos showed Kim and his daughter, reportedly named Kim Ju Ae and aged about 13, walking near huge olive-green launch trucks and looking at weapons being launched from them. The girl has been accompanying her father at numerous high-profile events like missile tests and military parades since late 2022, stoking outside speculation that she’s being groomed as his heir.

Experts say North Korea’s large-sized rocket launchers blur the boundaries between artillery systems and ballistic missiles because they can create their own thrust and are guided during delivery. North Korea has said some of these systems are capable of delivering nuclear warheads.

The springtime U.S.-South Korean Freedom Shield training, a computer-simulated command post exercise, is to run through March 19. North Korea often reacts to the exercise with its own weapons tests and fiery rhetoric.

U.S. Army soldiers operate their drone during a joint river-crossing exercise between South Korea and the United States as a part of the Freedom Shield military exercise in Yeoncheon, South Korea, Saturday, March 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

U.S. Army's armored vehicles cross a floating bridge on the Imjin River during a joint river-crossing exercise between South Korea and the United States as a part of the Freedom Shield military exercise in Yeoncheon, South Korea, Saturday, March 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

South Korean army's tanks move to attend a joint river-crossing exercise between South Korea and the United States as a part of the Freedom Shield military exercise in Yeoncheon, South Korea, Saturday, March 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

In this photo provided by the North Korean government, its leader Kim Jong Un, second right, and his daughter, third right, attend a live-fire test of multiple rocket launch systems, at an undisclosed place in North Korea Saturday, March 14, 2026. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)

In this photo provided by the North Korean government, its leader Kim Jong Un, center right, and his daughter, center left, attend a live-fire test of multiple rocket launch systems, at an undisclosed place in North Korea Saturday, March 14, 2026. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)