After Friday night's humiliating loss to No. 2 Houston, BYU's basketball players vowed to respond favorably when the NCAA Tournament begins next week.

By any account, the Cougars are as good as they come, with back-to-back Big 12 titles, a suffocating defense, and a national coach of the candidate in Kelvin Sampson.

BYU couldn’t stop Houston’s stars. Even without All-Big 12 First Team selection J’Wan Roberts, Houston had no shortage of horses to take down BYU. Emmanuel Sharp scored 26 points, LJ Cryer added another 20 and Milos Uzan provided 14 points and five assists.

This affiliate content is not influenced by our advertising relationships, but AP and Data Skrive might earn commissions from our partners’ links in this content.

BYU is led by Richie Saunders, a junior guard who has morphed into a fringe NBA prospect this year. It also has Dallin Hall, a veteran guard coming off the bench who stabilizes the Cougars’ offense and finishes games.

Only a handful of conference tournament finals remain and many questions have been answered ahead of the brackets being announced. Here’s a final projection.

The Arizona Wildcats basketball program lost to the Houston Cougars in the 2025 Big 12 tournament championship.

Picked to finish fifth in its first season in the Big 12 Conference, Arizona found itself tied for first place in the league after 12 games before a back-heavy schedule dropped it to third at the end of the regular season.