The Houston basketball team lost the Big 12 conference tournament championship on Saturday night. Arizona used a strong first half to push past the Cougars, 79-74. Following the game, Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson opened up about Arizona's clutch shooting.
“The shot clock was running down. We were playing great defense, and they banked a ball in from 20 feet,” Sampson said postgame, per PHNX Wildcats. “Takes a little bit of air out of your balloon, a little bit, until they do it again three possessions later.”
Kelvin Sampson says Ivan Kharchenkov's bank-shot 3PM was the key play of the Big 12 Championship game.
…until Brayden Burries did it again 3 possessions later 😂
📸: @Big12Conference pic.twitter.com/4opZw6VIWY
— PHNX Wildcats (@PHNX_Wildcats) March 15, 2026
Sampson said that Arizona's offense was just so effective in the contest.
“Arizona's really good. They are really good. They got a really good team,” Sampson added.
After the win, Arizona improved to 32-2 on the season. The Wildcats also avenged a loss they suffered to Houston in last season's Big 12 conference tournament championship game.
“We got in the Big 12, and I learned real quick we were looking up and chasing a program, and it was Houston,” Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd said, per the Associated Press. “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.”
Houston played well in the second half, after falling behind by eight at halftime. The Cougars outscored Arizona 38-35 in the second half. It just wasn't enough in the end to win.
“You had the two best teams in the Big 12 fighting down the stretch. Either team could have won the game,” Houston coach 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.”
Houston now waits to see who it will play in the NCAA tournament.
