Wildcats edge Iowa State 82-80 and prepare for championship showdown
Arizona squeaked past Iowa State 82-80 at the buzzer in the Big 12 semifinals. This game had both fan bases going through an array of emotions. Deep 3-pointers, fast break dunks, teams trading leads, this game had it all.
has ever produced. The Wildcats will now play for the Big 12 championship tonight against Houston. If it is anything like last night, then it will be a good one. It was not a pretty start, as the Wildcats found themselves down 14-2 early on in the ball game. If any team was built to face the challenge and come back, it is the Wildcats.“They made everything at the beginning, and we didn’t play our best defense — not as physical or as energetic as we should have,” Kharchenkov said. “After the first timeout, we said, ‘Hey guys, we can’t keep doing that. We came here to win.’ So we figured it out, played even harder and just chipped away a little bit.”Kharchenkov was a big catalyst in the comeback, scoring 17 points and hitting two 3-pointers. He did not just put the ball in the basket, though. Kharchenkov filled the stat sheet with five assists, three rebounds, three steals, and a block. He said he did not try to force the hand and let the game come to him. “Just not forcing it and letting the game come to me,” Kharchenkov said. “I feel like I did that a little bit. The bigs did a pretty good job sealing and getting me open, and my teammates found me when I was sliding and cutting. So, yeah, just playing the game the right way.”showed why he is the Big 12 Player of the Year when he hit the game-winning shot, with a contested mid-range fadeaway at the buzzer. Kharchenkov mentioned how Bradley’s shot will set the tone going into tonight's championship game.“We have about two hours to celebrate once this game is over,” Kharchenkov said. “Then we have to lock back in again. The only good thing is we’ll have two more hours to recover than the other team that plays today. It’s crazy, but it’s good that we won and that he hit the shots. It’s March, basically. But we’ve got to lock back in in two hours.”Caleb Meadows is a contributor to the UNC Tar Heels. He previously covered Louisville sports and WWE for FanSided. Meadows also covered local sports in Oklahoma while attending Oklahoma State, where he earned a degree in sports communications. Follow him on X, at @CalebMeadows25."Daily Dunk: Best College Basketball Bets Today
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