No. 1 Arizona easily rolls past No. 16 LIU in NCAA Tournament opener

SAN DIEGO — The Arizona Wildcats were untested in a wire-to-wire 92-58 victory over LIU in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.

In the 34-point thrashing, the Wildcats were firing on all cylinders, whether it was attacking the basket, owning the rebounding battle or draining 3-pointers.

Brayden Burries, a San Bernardino native playing about 100 miles from his hometown, put on a dazzling display in his first NCAA Tournament game. The freshman finished with 18 points on 6-of-10 shooting, including 4-of-5 from deep, across 28 minutes.

“I think their game plan was just to close out short and just force us to shoot 3s and hopefully they rebound it,” Burries said. “Today, we made our shots. It was in our favor.”

Burries tallied the most points by an Arizona freshman in an NCAA Tournament debut since Lauri Markkanen had 16 against Saint Mary’s in the second round in 2017. He was six points shy of the record set by Marcus Williams (24) in 2006.

Burries connected on his first three field goals, all 3-pointers, to set the tone as Arizona jumped out to an early 22-9 lead.

“Just being in the right place at the right time. My teammates finding me,” Burries said about his hot start. “So thankful for them and just making shots, honestly.”

An ensuing 9-0 Arizona run put the Wildcats up by 27, which included a dunk and 31-footer from Burries as the shot clock was expiring.

Logo Brayden.pic.twitter.com/WAZXOo2rfE

— Arizona Basketball (@ArizonaMBB) March 20, 2026

In addition to Burries, the Wildcats once again exhibited the depth and team-first basketball they have been known for all season.

In their NCAA Tournament debuts, freshman Koa Peat scored 15 points on 5-of-12 shooting, while Ivan Kharchenkov added 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting and a career-high 10 rebounds. It was the fifth double-double by an Arizona freshman in the NCAA Tournament and first since 2018 (Deandre Ayton).

“I mean, honestly I don’t look at them as freshmen, you know what I mean? I just look at them as really good basketball players,” Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd said. “These guys, they have high IQs, they have great character and obviously they’re talented basketball players. And they put the work in.

“So when you have that combination of elements, I don’t think it matters what year you are in school. And I would have been more surprised had they come out and been a little bit nervous today than play the way they did.”

Against an LIU team that on paper offered little resistance against Arizona, the Wildcats aced their first test without any issues, unlike No. 1 overall seed Duke a day earlier against a feisty Siena.

LIU, known for playing four guards on heavy minutes, was outsized and outmatched from the onset.

“I think it’s our preparation. Our green squad did a really good job of getting us prepped for the game. And we were just sitting on LIU’s tendencies,” Peat said.

“That’s tough, especially they got a lot of good players over there. But I thought we did good defensively and we just were together for sure on defense.”

The Wildcats out-rebounded the Sharks, 52-31, which enabled the Wildcats to get out and play in transition.

“For me, being able to get the ball up the court with tempo and pace doesn’t mean we have to do something quick, but it helps us initiate our offense,” Lloyd said. “So getting the ball up with the right pace affects something two or three passes later, and so that’s something that I always think about.

“We just reminded our guys to continue to run, to continue to get into our flow as quick as we could. And our guys did a good job readjusting to that later in the second half.”

The only bugaboo for the Wildcats on the afternoon came at the foul line. Arizona shot 22-of-33 at the line, tied for its seventh-worst mark on the season.

Next up for the Wildcats, Arizona will play the winner of No. 8 Villanova and No. 9 Utah State on Sunday in San Diego.

Related

Arizona's Brayden Burries feels it early in 1st-round win vs. LIUAre the Cinderellas of the NCAA Tournament disappearing? The 2026 edition will be telling3 Arizona Wildcats among ESPN's top-50 players in NCAA TournamentArizona’s Tommy Lloyd not interested in NBA after UNC interestHow did former Arizona Wildcats, ASU Sun Devils and GCU ‘Lopes perform in NBA Summer League?Arizona target Marcus Spears Jr. reclassifies to 2026 class, commits to Texas