Arizona's Jaden Bradley sent the Wildcats to the Big 12 tournament championship game with his buzzer beater against Iowa State on Friday night.
Bradley hit a contested fadeaway as time expired for an 82-80 win over the Cyclones in what could have been the best game of conference tournament week. Bradley made two baskets in the final minute, as Arizona took the lead late in the second half and hung on.
Bradley's shot is the first game-winner as time expired in the Big 12 tournament since Iowa State's Monte Morris in 2015. The Wildcats will play Houston in the Big 12 title game on Saturday night.
Before the buzzer beater, Bradley put the Wildcats up three with 45 seconds to go on another jumper. But Tamin Lipsey — who was 1-of-10 from the field — buried a game-tying 3-pointer with 15.2 seconds left.
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The second half was fantastic as both teams traded baskets in the final minutes. Iowa State's Milan Momcilovic tied his career high with 28 points as he was 8-of-14 from behind the 3-point line. Three of those came in the final 1:23 of the first half as his personal 9-0 run put Iowa State up by six at the half.
Anthony Dell'Orso matched him in the second half. The Arizona senior was huge for the Wildcats in their road win over Houston in the regular season on their way to the Big 12 regular-season title. On Friday night, Dell'Orso scored 26 and was 6-of-9 from behind the arc and 10-of-14 from the field.
Iowa State jumped out to a 14-2 lead to start the game and seemingly always had an answer for Arizona when the Wildcats got closer. The dam finally broke in the second half as Arizona took the lead with 6:01 to go and extended it to five — its biggest margin of the game — with 4:09 to go.
The Cyclones didn't go away. After Arizona went up 76-71 with 2:23 to go, Iowa State kept cutting the lead back to one score before tying the game on Lipsey's basket.
The game solidified why Arizona will be a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament and how Iowa State could be a No. 2 seed when the bracket is revealed on Selection Sunday. The teams combined to shoot 63-of-124 from the field and were 22-of-47 from behind the arc.
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