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Jaden Bradley hits buzzer-beater to send Arizona to Big 12 title game
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- Jaden Bradley hits buzzer-beater to send Arizona to Big 12 title game
Jaden Bradley has made clutch shots for Arizona basketball in the past.
However, the Big 12 Player of the Year delivered one of the biggest shots thus far of March (and of his career) Friday night in an all-time thriller for No. 1 Arizona against No. 7 Iowa State in the Big 12 semifinals. With the ball in his hands in a tied game at 80-80 and time expiring, Bradly drove right, faded, shot, and found the bottom of the net for the buzzer-beating winner to send the Wildcats to Saturday's conference tournament championship game.
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HOLY MOLY.
REQUIRED READING: Big 12 tournament bracket, scores, updates: Back to hardwood for semifinals
Bradley's shot at the T-Mobile Center came seconds after Tamin Lipsey hit a game-tying 3-pointer in front of the Cyclones bench to allow for the possibility of playing overtime in Kansas City on Friday.
"JB's one of a kind. He's put in the work like I've seen everyone else do on the team. We have the ultimate confidence in him. He won Big 12 Player of the Year for a reason," Bradley's teammate, Anthony Dell'Orso, told ESPN's Rece Davis, Jay Williams and Seth Greenberg after the game.
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The Wildcats had to come from behind to win Friday's semifinal, as they trailed the Cyclones 43-37 after the first half. Arizona, which trailed as many as 12 points in the first half, finished the game on a 26-20 run against Iowa State to keep its chances of being a 1-seed in the NCAA Tournament alive.
Bradley finished with 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the field with seven assists, two steals, two rebounds and a block.
Arizona will face the winner of Houston vs. Kansas in March 14's championship game at 6 p.m. ET.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jaden Bradley delivers March moment fro Arizona with buzzer-beater
