Caleb Love led Arizona with 27 points as the Wildcats advanced to the Big XII Tournament Championship game on Saturday with an 86-80 win over Texas Tech in the Semifinals on Friday. Arizona led 47-39 at halftime and extended the lead to 57-43 with 16:54 left in the second half.
Texas Tech chipped away at the lead and got as close as 78-74 with 2:40 remaining and still trailed 82-77 with 47 seconds remaining. Arizona always seemed to have an answer for Texas Tech and finished 16-21 from the free-throw throw line to keep the Red Raiders at a safe distance.
Love was exceptionally efficient, shooting 10-15 from the floor, 5-8 on threes and 2-2 from the free throw line with five rebounds and one assist. K.J. Lewis had 15 points, eight rebounds, and six assists. Trey Townsend had 12 points and five rebounds, Henri Veesaar had 10 points and seven rebounds, and Jaden Bradley also scored 10.
Kevin Overton led four Texas Tech players in double figures with a season-high 20 points. Texas Tech shot 42.6 percent from the floor and made nine of its 28 three-point shots. Arizona was able to withstand Texas Tech shooting 55.6 percent from the field and making four of nine threes in the second half by building the 14-point lead.
Henri Veesaar was exceptional for Arizona down the stretch with eight points in the final 5:08 to finish with 10 points, seven rebounds, two assists and one steal. Arizona did a good job defensively on Big XII Player of the Year J.T. Toppin who was reportedly playing sick. Toppin finished with 11 points on 4-13 from the field and six rebounds.
Arizona advances to play top-seeded Houston who is 21-1 against Big XII opponents this season. The Big XII Championship game will tip-off at 3:00 PM Mountain Standard Time on ESPN with Jon Sciambi calling play-by-play, Fran Fraschilla as the analyst and Kris Budden as the sideline reporter.