Kansas guard Melvin Council Jr. (14) rips the ball away from Arizona guard Jaden Bradley (0) during the first half, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026, at Allen Fieldhouse. Photo by Nick Krug

After Kansas beat Houston on Monday to bring itself into what eventually became a four-way tie for second place in the league standings, KU guard Melvin Council Jr. said the Jayhawks were focused on securing a double bye in the Big 12 tournament — that is, finishing as one of the league’s top four teams so they can begin playing on the third day of the event, March 12.

They are not fully out of contention for a share of the league title, but KU and its fellow 11-4 teams, Houston, Iowa State and Texas Tech, are a full two games behind Arizona with three games left to play.

“If it doesn’t fall our way on Saturday, even though mathematically things are still possible, I think you’re looking at Arizona being the 90-95% prohibitive favorite to go ahead and close it out (sole possession of the league title),” KU coach Bill Self said. “But who knows? But I see everybody obviously needing a lot of help in order for Arizona not to get it done.”

The Jayhawks have a chance to make up some ground when they travel to face the Wildcats, a team they previously beat 82-78 at Allen Fieldhouse on Feb. 9. This time the matchup will be at the McKale Center at 3 p.m. Central time on Saturday.

“It’s going to be everything that it took in game one for sure,” sophomore guard Jamari McDowell said. “When we played them here, obviously it was a tough game. They’re a really good team, they’re big, fast, strong on every position. So they’re a really good team, but what we had here ain’t going to be enough. We’re going to have to bring some more energy for sure.”

The first-place Wildcats are coming off a bit of a scare on the road at Baylor, in which they trailed by seven points at the half at Foster Pavilion and didn’t take any notable control until freshman guard Brayden Burries’ jumper made it a four-point game with 27 seconds remaining. Burries, who was a menace against KU in Lawrence, finished the Baylor game with 24 points, but point guard Jaden Bradley was the unexpected offensive star with 25 on five 3s to go with six assists and six rebounds.

On the whole, after its back-to-back losses to KU and Texas Tech, its only two losses of the season, Arizona has bounced back well with three straight wins, not just the Baylor thriller but victories over BYU and at Houston. That’s particularly impressive given that the Wildcats have been without freshman forward Koa Peat (13.3 points, 5.2 rebounds) for much of that stretch due to a lower leg muscle strain, as well as freshman wing Dwayne Aristode.

Of course, part of Arizona’s success this year has been the return of multiple past starters in lesser roles, and so Tobe Awaka, one of the league’s top rebounders, has slid back into the lineup, and Anthony Dell’Orso, a senior wing from Australia, delivered back-to-back season-best 22-point performances against BYU and Houston.

“Without Koa out there, they’re playing (Ivan) Kharchenkov, and I love his game, they’re playing him at the four quite a bit, so they’re, in some ways, playing smaller,” Self said. “And then, of course, the kid off the bench, Dell’Orso, he has been great in more of a higher-minute type (of) role. And a lot of those things have been because of Koa not being out there, just redistributing the minutes.

“And Aristode’s obviously a good player, too. He played good against us here. They haven’t been at full strength. But they also have played very well, regardless of how you look at it, without Koa, too.”

To fill out its rotation, Arizona has gone deep into its bench for Senegalese freshman forward Sidi Gueye and Harvard transfer guard Evan Nelson, neither of whom played against KU the first time and neither of whom has done much on the stat sheet this year. They may not be quite as necessary if Peat is able to return after he had been a game-time decision on Tuesday at Baylor.

Arizona may no longer carry the same sparkling record that it did when it met the Jayhawks on Feb. 9, but the Wildcats have continued to look like the conference’s all-around top team.

The Wildcats have the league’s top offense at 84.5 points per game in Big 12 play and 48.9% shooting despite a notable disinterest in shooting 3s for the most part. Meanwhile, their solid defense is fifth in the conference and first in opponent field-goal percentage (39.3%) and 3-point field goal percentage (30.1%). Awaka and center Motiejus Krivas have made Arizona one of the best defensive rebounding teams in the country, so opponents garner few second chances.

Arizona and its fans have wanted KU at the McKale Center for a long time. After the Big 12 didn’t include that matchup as part of the Wildcats’ inaugural campaign in the conference, the Arizona Daily Star had an article in October 2024 with Commissioner Brett Yormark saying “we’ve got to go back to the drawing board and think about that,” then another in March 2025 before Arizona played at Allen Fieldhouse that in its opening sentence declared “forcing the Kansas Jayhawks to visit McKale Center” as one of the biggest upsides of the school’s move to the Big 12.

Now that apparent dream matchup is coming to pass — albeit at a building now officially named “McKale Center at ALKEME Arena” — and it’ll be one of KU’s hardest games all season.

NO. 2 ARIZONA WILDCATS (26-2, 13-2 BIG 12) VS. NO. 14 KANSAS JAYHAWKS (21-7, 11-4 BIG 12)

• McKale Center at ALKEME Arena, Tucson, Arizona, 3 p.m. Central time

• Broadcast: ESPN

• Radio: Jayhawk Radio Network (in Lawrence, KLWN AM 1320 / K269GB FM 101.7 / KKSW FM 105.9 / KMXN FM 92.9)

KEEP AN EYE OUT

Man in the middle: Krivas presented some significant challenges for KU the first time around, when he racked up 14 points, 15 rebounds, six blocks and four assists. The 7-foot-2, 260-pound center didn’t end up frustrating Flory Bidunga all that much, especially after the early stages of the game, as KU’s forward finished with 23 points and 10 rebounds, but his length was one of the reasons why Council, who had a tough go of it on straight-line drives, finished 6-for-25 from the field. Whether it’s Peat or Awaka playing alongside Krivas, KU’s guards will need to be craftier if they try to get into the paint.

Sudden surge: Dell’Orso was a nonfactor in the two games Arizona played against KU last year and made one 3-pointer on one shot on Feb. 9. But his recent string of improved performances has him playing with confidence and providing an outside-shooting element that the Wildcats really haven’t deployed much all season. Despite playing fewer minutes, he is just behind Burries for Arizona’s season-long lead in 3-point attempts, and now that he’s starting to make them at a higher rate, he’ll become more of a priority for the likes of Tre White to handle on the perimeter.

X-factor: KU famously did not have Darryn Peterson when it faced the Wildcats the first time. How much additional spacing will he provide? How will he handle the physicality of Arizona’s defense? And can he grow beyond his erratic play of the last two games to attain something like his first-half form from Feb. 18 against Oklahoma State? He has been, as Self said on his radio show this week, just “OK” of late — although he has managed not to leave games in the second half due to cramping issues.

OFF-KILTER OBSERVATION

Former KU walk-on Evan Manning, the son of Danny Manning, is an assistant coach at Arizona, a role to which he was promoted prior to the 2025-26 season.