Arizona baseball had won five of its last seven games, which included three road wins, entering Friday evening’s matchup with Kansas State.
Arizona
Caleb Love scores 27 to lead Arizona Wildcats over Texas Tech and into Big 12 final
Here’s what you need to know about the University of Arizona
UA was established in 1885, and its main campus is in Tucson. The Wildcats once had a live bobcat named Rufus as a mascot.
The Republic
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Caleb Love scored 27 points to lead the Arizona Wildcats over shorthanded Texas Tech 86-80 in a Big 12 tournament semifinal game Friday at T-Mobile Center.
Arizona’s rubber-match win, coming after the teams split the regular-season series, moved Arizona to 22-11 and into the Big 12 tournament championship game against Houston at 3 p.m. Saturday. It also may have put the Wildcats back in consideration for a preferential top four NCAA Tournament seed.
Texas Tech dropped to 25-8 and is projected to receive a No. 3 seed on Sunday.
Arizona shot 50% and held Texas Tech to just 42%, though the Red Raiders hit over 50% of their field goals in the second half to keep the game within single digits for most of the second half.
Love scored his 27 points on 10-for-15 shooting while hitting 5 of 8 3-pointers. KJ Lewis added 12 points, eight rebounds and six assists despite continuing to deal with a sore right wrist, ripping off a wrap over it during the first half.
Kevin Overton led Texas Tech with 19 points but the Red Raiders were playing without two of their top three scorers: All-Big 12 first team forward Darrion Williams wore a boot Friday after playing against Baylor in a Thursday quarterfinal game, and forward Chance McMillian did not play because of an upper body strain.
In addition, Texas Tech forward JT Toppin, the Big 12’s Player of the Year, threw up in a trash can in a tunnel adjacent to the court because of over-hydration, according to ESPN’s coverage of the game. Toppin had just 10 points and five rebounds in 24 minutes while missing both 3-pointers he took.
Because the Big 12 tournament semifinals didn’t have either Kansas, Kansas State or Iowa State for the first time ever, depriving the event of nearby rooting interest, the Wildcats’ fan support was audible inside the half-empty T-Mobile Center.
While it wasn’t the sort of “McKale North” atmosphere supporting the Wildcats at recent Pac-12 Tournaments, UA fans were the biggest group on hand for the late semifinal game Friday.
Leading 47-39 at halftime, Arizona took early second half leads of up to 14 points before the Red Raiders chipped away. TTU scored seven straight points, capped by a 3-pointer from Overton, to cut UA’s lead to 64-59 with 9:08 left.
Overton later hit his fourth 3 from the right corner to pull the Red Raiders within 70-66 with 6:14 left and at that point, TTU was shooting 57.1% from the field after making only 32.4% in the first half.
But Texas Tech never came any closer from there.
In the first half, Love scored 17 points while Arizona held Texas Tech to just 32.4% percent shooting and took a 49-37 halftime lead.
Arizona shot 65.4% from the field, though the Red Raiders tied UA with 17 rebounds and scored four more points at the free-throw line.
The Wildcats outscored the Red Raiders 9-4 over the final 2:01 of what was a one-possession game for most of the first half, with little-used point guard Conrad Martinez turning a steal into a layup with 1:12 to go.
The Wildcats jumped out to a 9-0 lead, with Love scoring the first seven points of the game off a 3-pointer, a 12-footer and two free throws.But Texas Tech hit 5 of 6 3s over the next six minutes to take a 22-19 lead after Christian Anderson and Kevin Overton hit 3s on successive TTU possessions.
The game score remained with three points, with Texas Tech missing its final 12 3-pointers of the half, until Townsend hit a pair of free throws to give UA a 40-35 lead with 2:01 left in the half.
Arizona entered Friday’s game at 21-11 and Texas Tech was 25-7. The Red Raiders are fighting for a potential No. 2 NCAA Tournament while UA is projected to be hovering between a 4 and 5.
In these four-round projections, the Arizona Cardinals don’t get a tackle until the fourth round.
We are just days away from the 2026 NFL draft, and that means some final mock drafts. What direction will the draft take the Arizona Cardinals?
Draft Wire’s Curt Popejoy put together a four-round mock draft for the Cardinals. They go defense early but rebuild the offense for 2026 and moving forward, including landing their potential franchise quarterback.
Cardinals 4-round mock draft
Here are the players in the first four rounds Popejoy projects for Arizona.
- Round 1: Ohio State EDGE/LB Arvell Reese
- Round 2: Alabama QB Ty Simpson
- Round 3: Clemson WR Antonio Williams
- Round 4: Florida OT Austin Barber
What we think of the picks
The Cardinals want to trade out of the third pick and draft a tackle, so not getting a tackle until Round 4 seems unlikely, although they did meet with Barber. They do have options at right tackle for 2026 already on the roster.
Reese would be a great pick if they don’t trade back, as they badly need pass-rushing help off the edge.
Drafting Simpson seems inevitable at this point, so it has to be in a mock draft, although the feeling is they will need to go up into Round 1 again to get him.
Williams has speed and is almost six feet tall, but he does have short arms.
Get more Cardinals and NFL coverage from Cards Wire’s Jess Root and others by listening to the latest on the Rise Up, See Red podcast. Subscribe on Spotify, YouTube or Apple podcasts.
Due to significant injuries to the CB position last year which includes a shoulder surgery for Terrion Arnold, the Lions CB position scored a 6/10 need on my Lions Defensive Draft Need Rankings. Thus, an early-round selection of a young, healthy prospect like Keith Abney would not come as a surprise. He enters the draft with very low medical concern level.
Here is the excerpt from my medical report on Keith Abney:
(Ages in parentheses are at start of 2026 season and are factored into the concern level. Injury info and ages based on available public information are unverified and subject to update. Games played data courtesy of sports-reference.com.)
Keith Abney, CB (21) – Arizona State
Projected round 2-3. #43 on Jeff Risdon board Feb 19.
Concern level 0/10
There is an isolated report of a hand injury but no corroborating information. Even if the hand injury is true, that’s of minimal to no long-term concern.
His availability in his final two seasons has been perfect. Overall, Abney appears to be medically clean and is at an excellent age.
He finished college with 6 INT and 21 PBU.
For more Lions coverage, follow us on X, @TheLionsWire, and give our Facebook page a like. Follow Jimmy on X, @JimmyLiaoMD
In the first game of the series, Arizona (14-23, 5-11 Big 12) battled in a low-scoring affair but fell short in a 2-1 loss to Kansas State (24-12, 8-8 Big 12). The Wildcats from Tucson held the Wildcats from Manhattan at bay for a good majority of the night.
Given that Kansas State leads the Big 12 in conference play in batting, on-base percentage, and slugging, Arizona had a rather good performance, but it was not enough.
Owen Kramkowski pitched seven scoreless innings before allowing the first Kansas State run in the top of the eight. He finished with six strikeouts and kept the high octane Wildcats at bay.
“I thought the defense played well behind him too,” said head coach Chip Hale. “There’s a lot of ground balls, and we made plays where we were positioned in good places, and he was pitching in the eighth inning. That’s unbelievable.”
Garrett Hicks (3-1) came in to try and stop the bleeding for the Wildcats and did so by not allowing Kansas State to take the lead in the eighth. It was in the ninth when the lead was surrendered.
It took until the sixth inning but the first run was scored by Arizona. Andrew Cain singled to left field and after Maddox Mihalakis flew out, it was Beau Sylvester bringing Cain home with a triple through right center field.
Sylvester extended his hitting streak to eight games and it proved to be not enough to get Arizona to the finish line.
Kansas State tied the game at the top of the eight when back to back singles got runners on at first and third. Then a passed ball allowed the third base runner to come home.
Arizona had a chance to retake the lead in the bottom of the ninth after Cain singled to deep right field. With Sylvester back at the plate, it seemed like it was a perfect set up.
A wild pitch nearly got past Kansas State and Cain tried to take advantage of it and steal home. However, Kansas State was able to corral the pitch and get Cain out at home.
AJ Evasco started the ninth inning with a double for Kansas State and back to back fly outs eventually got him home to give Kansas State the lead and the win.
With eight players being left on base, Arizona will need to bring those runners in more often than not if they want to tie the series Saturday afternoon.
As a young team, the Wildcats have had to walk a very tight line between disappointment and dejection and will need to continue handling these losses with grace if it wants to turn a corner.
“It’s the way it goes, it’s baseball,” said Hale. “If we don’t handle it, we will come out tomorrow and won’t be ready to go, so hopefully they handle it.”
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