Who else to end one of the best games college basketball has seen this season other than Arizona’s Jaden Bradley.

Arizona defeated Iowa State in the Big 12 tournament semi-finals, 82-80. This was an instant classic game. Iowa State jumped out to an early 12-point lead but Arizona would not be denied. Anthony Dell’Orso played a career game, Tobe Awaka crashed the glass and the closer… closed. Arizona moves on to the Big 12 tournament title game and will face Houston.

Jaden “The Closer” Bradley

Bradley has been dubbed “the closer,” and has lived up to the nickname at just about every opportunity this season. Bradley took Killyan Toure off the dribble with a just a handful of seconds remaining in the game, rose up for the mid-range leaner, let it fly and was swarmed by teammates as the shot fell and he slid into the Arizona cheerleaders.

Bradley won the game at the buzzer for the Wildcats. It was the first buzzer-beater in the Big 12 tournament since, Monte Morris hit one in 2015 as a member of Iowa State.

The discourse around Bradley entering this game was not about him but rather AJ Dybantsa as Big 12 fans took issue with the way conference awards were given out this season.

Bradley was named the Big 12’s Player of the Year last week and every Arizona fan understood why. Even if they would not have picked Bradley for the award themself, the argument for him was clear. Bradley is the leader of the number one team in the Big 12 and can elevate his play in the clutch like no other in the sport.

It’s official, no more debate necessary. Jaden Bradley is the Big 12’s most valuable player this season.

Delly Delivers

Iowa State sniper Milan Momcilovic was having a career night for the Cyclones in this game. Momcilovic had 28 points on 8-14 from beyond-the-arc and even added a halftime buzzer-beater to put Iowa State up six. If Arizona was going to come out on top, they needed some distance dominance of their own.

Enter Anthony Dell’Orso, who posted a new career high in this game with 26 points. Dell’Orso knocked down six three point jumpers and kept Arizona in the game with his hot shooting. He matched Momcilovic shot for shot at points in this game.

There may be no player more deserving of that performance than Delly. After last season ended, he completely committed to the grind and chose the hard way. Dell’Orso transformed his body, transformed his game and is now a guy that can take over in the Big 12 tournament semi-finals to help deliver his program to the title game.

Arizona and Houston complete their hostile takeover

Arizona and Houston are two of the newer Big 12 teams but have quickly become the talk of the conference. Houston has had a lot of success since their addition and Arizona has now won the regular season title and made the tournament title game as well.

Tomorrow’s championship game will be a rematch of the February 21 matchup that saw Arizona pull off the surprise upset over the Cougars on the road without Koa Peat and Dwayne Aristode.

Arizona will have Peat and Aristode healthy this time around and Houston is surely itching to get another shot at the Cats.

For more on this and any upcoming Arizona matchups, tune into the AZ Wildcats Podcast with Damon Fairall and Kevin Thomas