It was bound to happen eventually — and it came at one of the toughest venues in college basketball, even with the home team missing its best player.
Top-ranked Arizona suffered its first loss of the season Monday night, falling 82–78 at No. 9 Kansas and snapping a program-record 23-game winning streak. The Wildcats were outscored by 16 points during a 10-minute stretch in the second half and endured a brutal shooting slump, missing 13 of 14 shots at one point.
Brayden Burries led Arizona with 25 points, knocking down 4 of 7 from beyond the arc. Motiejus Krivas added a strong all-around performance with 14 points, 15 rebounds, four assists and six blocks, while Ivan Kharchenkov finished with 13 points, six rebounds and three steals. However, Arizona received little production from the rest of its lineup.
Jaden Bradley and Koa Peat, both key scorers, struggled mightily. Bradley, who had averaged 19.8 points against ranked opponents, went just 2-for-8 from the field. Peat finished 2-for-11, scoring six points. Tobe Awaka also scored six but grabbed only two rebounds as foul trouble limited his minutes.
Kansas (19–5, 9–2) extended its remarkable Big Monday dominance, winning its 61st straight home game in the series despite being without freshman guard Darryn Peterson, a projected No. 1 NBA draft pick who missed the game with flu-like symptoms. The Jayhawks’ supporting cast rose to the occasion.
Flory Bidunga and Melvin Council scored 23 points apiece, combining for 32 of Kansas’ 40 second-half points. Bryson Tiller chipped in 18, while Jamari McDowell, who started in place of Peterson, tied his career high with 10 points.
Kansas’ defense proved to be the difference, particularly in the paint. Arizona shot 44.4 percent overall but just 37.1 percent after halftime. The Wildcats’ 45.6 percent shooting on two-point attempts marked their second-worst performance of the season.
Arizona also struggled at the free-throw line, going 8-for-14 compared to Kansas’ 21-for-25.
The Wildcats led 45–42 at halftime, just the fourth time Kansas had trailed at the break this season. Arizona briefly stretched the lead early in the second half, going up 55–44 less than three minutes in after a Krivas block led to a Burries three-point play.
From there, momentum shifted sharply.
Bidunga sparked the turnaround with a powerful dunk over Krivas and a three-point play that cut the Arizona lead to 62–61 with 11:38 remaining. He later gave Kansas its first lead with 9:33 left during an 8–0 run, as Arizona went more than four minutes without scoring.
A Burries three-pointer briefly stopped the bleeding, but it was the Wildcats’ only made shot over a nine-minute stretch. Arizona missed 13 of 14 attempts during that span.
Kansas pushed its lead to six before going cold itself. Kharchenkov’s layup cut the deficit to 73–71 with just over two minutes remaining, and another Burries three made it 77–76 with 33.6 seconds left. The Jayhawks sealed the win by hitting five of six free throws in the final moments.
Arizona opened the game with a 6–0 run, capped by a steal and basket from Kharchenkov, forcing Kansas coach Bill Self to call timeout less than two minutes in. The Wildcats maintained a two-possession lead until Kansas answered with six straight points to tie the game at 19 on a Tiller three.
A three-pointer by Dwayne Aristode ignited a 10–3 Arizona run, pushing the lead to 29–22 midway through the first half and prompting another Kansas timeout. The Jayhawks blocked six of Arizona’s first 28 shots, but back-to-back threes by Burries and Anthony Dell’Orso restored a seven-point Arizona lead.
Kansas responded with a seven-point run to tie the game at 38 with just over three minutes left in the half. After a shot-clock violation gave the Jayhawks a chance to take their first lead, Council missed a three, and Arizona closed the half with five straight points to remain in front at the break.
Arizona returns home Saturday to host No. 16 Texas Tech. ESPN’s College GameDay will broadcast live from McKale Center that morning. The Red Raiders (17–6, 7–3) are the second of four consecutive ranked opponents on the Wildcats’ schedule.