TUCSON, Arizona — Jaden Bradley scored 17 points, Motiejus Krivas added 13 and No. 2 Arizona clinched the outright Big 12 regular-season title with a 73-57 win over No. 6 Iowa State on Monday night.
The Wildcats (28-2, 15-2) secured at least a share of the conference crown by using big runs in each half to beat No. 14 Kansas on Saturday.
Arizona earned it outright by smothering Iowa State defensively to give Tommy Lloyd his 140th victory, most in NCAA history in a coach’s first five seasons.
Coming off their first home loss of the season, the Cyclones (24-6, 11-6) labored against Arizona’s physical defense, shooting 29% from the floor, including 7 of 30 from 3-point range.
Tamin Lipsey led Iowa State with 17 points, but leading scorer Milan Momcilovic was held to five on 2-of-8 shooting. The nation’s best 3-point shooter at 51%, he went 1 for 5 from the beyond the arc.
Neither team could make much of anything, due to good defense and missing open shots.
Iowa State shot 9 of 33 from the floor and 4 of 20 from 3 in the first half.
Arizona labored most of the half as the Cyclones collapsed in the paint before the Wildcats closed on a 15-3 run to lead 37-25 at halftime.
It only got worse for Iowa State to start the second half. The Cyclones missed their first eight shots as Arizona stretched the lead to 16.
Iowa State briefly found an offensive rhythm, using a 10-1 run to pull to 44-37, but didn’t hit a field goal for more than five minutes as Arizona stretched the lead back to 15.
