KANSAS CITY, Mo. — One could be forgiven for passing by the Iowa State-Arizona game on Friday night and mistaking it for an Elite Eight NCAA Tournament game. The contest had that kind of gravity.
No. 1 seed Arizona won, 82-80, over No. 5 Iowa State to advance to the Final Four … I mean the Big 12 Championship game. See how easy it is?
“Just like they’re a Final Four contender, so are we,” Iowa State coach T.J. Otzelberger said.
And the Big 12 Player of the Year, the guy everyone quizzically questioned about winning the award? Arizona’s Jaden Bradley? Well he hit the game-winner.
The word “insane” kept coming up after the game. I’ve covered this tournament every year since 2019. That might have been — MIGHT HAVE BEEN — the best game I’ve covered.
“It was a really intense game,” Iowa State’s Joshua Jefferson said.
It had everything.
Dazzling 3-point shooting? Check the box twice. Iowa State’s Milan Momcilovic had eight 3-pointers and 28 points. At one point he WAS the story. He made three 3-pointers in the final 1:28 of the first half to give Iowa State a six-point lead. He was a one-man offense.
Arizona’s Anthony Dell’Orso wouldn’t be outdone. He scored 26 points, made six 3-pointers and on two occasions answered Momcilovic baskets. The senior has had big games this season. That was his biggest.
A Big 12 Game for the Ages
How incredible was it? There were nine 3-pointers in the final 10 minutes of the game.
“It’s a great feeling,” Dell’Orso said. “You see a couple go down and you get more confidence. It’s like shooting in the ocean.”
Great rebounding? Check the box. Even with great shooting — both teams fired 47% or better for the game — the rebounding was practically even, 34-33, in favor of Iowa State. Arizona’s Tobe Awake had some key boards down the stretch.
Physical play? Well, this is the Big 12, so of course. You could argue the refs let them play — at times. But no one got out of this one with a bruise. ESPN’s Fran Fraschilla wasn’t on the call on Saturday, but I channeled him several times during the game — “It was a good old-fashioned Big 12 rock fight.”
Incredible fan bases? Well, of course. This is Hilton South, after all. But Arizona seems intent on turning T-Mobile Center into McKale Midwest. There were more Cyclone fans. But Wildcats fans were full-throated.
But the shooting down the stretch took the game to another level. Iowa State made five of its final six field goals. Arizona made its final three field goals, including Bradley’s beautiful fall-away jumper at the buzzer. Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd didn’t call timeout because when he called timeout in the first half that led to that Momcilovic run.
“It was a crazy shot,” Lloyd said. “I mean I was thinking, ‘Tough defensive team,’ so if you call timeout they probably get the defense set so it was just a crazy shot. That was great defense [by Iowa State’s Killian Toure].”
Bradley finished with 15 points, two rebounds, seven assists, two steals and a block. Otzelberger said that Toure defended Bradley as well as he possibly could. Bradley just made an incredible shot.
Go back and look at that play. The ball never left Bradley’s hand. He was backing his teammates down. He wanted that shot. Big-time players want the ball in their hands at the end of big games.
Big 12 players of the year want the ball in their hands at the end of big games.
“I was looking at coach on what he wanted and he said ‘go,’” Bradley said. “They were trapping all night and I was just trying to read and react.”
Arizona moves on. Iowa State gets some rest. Perhaps the two teams meet one more time in, say, Indianapolis? In April?
That would be insane, just like the best game of this tournament so far.
