Arizona sets college basketball record with the victory over Houston

According to Matt Norlander of CBS Sports, Arizona set a college basketball record with its 12th win over a ranked opponent during the 2025-26 season. The 12 wins over ranked opponents are 37.5 percent of the Arizona wins this season, which Norlander rounded up to 38 percent.

Airzona began the season with a win over third-ranked Florida. Wins over 15th-ranked UCLA and at number three Connecticut gave Arizona the most victories over top 15 teams in the first five games of a season. Arizona beat then number 20 Auburn and 12th-ranked Alabama in non-conference play.

After five consecutive games over unranked teams to begin Big XII play, Arizona survived a late comeback to win at number 13 BYU. Ninth-ranked Kansas ended the 23-game winning streak Arizona had to begin the 2025-26 season and number 16 Texas Tech won at Arizona a game later.

In the middle of four consecutive games against ranked teams, Arizona ended the losing streak by earning the season sweep of BYU, who fell to 23rd nationally when the Wildcats beat them for a second time. Playing short-handed, Arizona earned perhaps its most impressive win of the season at number two Houston.

Closing the season strong

The second win over BYU began a nine-game Arizona winning streak to end the regular season. Arizona avenged the loss to Kansas by beating the then 14th-ranked Jayhawks in the penultimate regular-season home game and clinched the Big XII regular-season title by defeating Iowa State on Senior Night.

Arizona continued its run of victories over ranked teams by winning an epic Big XII Tournament semifinal over seventh-ranked Iowa State and then beating number five Houston in the Big XII Tournament Championship Game. Arizona is not likely to play a ranked team in the NCAA Tournament until the West Regional Semifinals at the earliest.