Jaden Bradley named Big 12 Player of the Year to lead numerous Wildcat honorees

Arizona Athletics
March 10, 2026
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Arizona men's basketball awards 2026 graphic

The Big 12 Conference announced the end-of-year awards for the 2025-26 season on Monday, as voted on by the coaches in the conference. University of Arizona senior point guard Jaden Bradley was named the Big 12 Player of the Year after leading the Wildcats to a 29-2 overall record and the Big 12 regular season championship.

Bradley is the 11th player in Arizona history to be named conference player of the year and the third in five seasons under head coach Tommy Lloyd. As a result of being named player of the year, Bradley also secures a spot in the Arizona Basketball Ring of Honor.

Another senior, Tobe Awaka, was a unanimous choice for Sixth Man of the Year and head coach Tommy Lloyd earned Big 12 Coach of the Year honors.

For Awaka, he becomes the third Wildcat in program history to earn top reserve honors alongside Jordan Brown (2020-21) and Pelle Larsson (2021-22).

It is the second conference coach of the year honor for Lloyd after he was named Pac-12 Coach of the Year in 2022.

Junior Motiejus Krivas and freshman Brayden Burries joined Bradley on the All-Big 12 First Team, while Koa Peat earned third team honors and Awaka was named an honorable mention.

The Big 12 All-Defensive team included Bradley and Krivas, while Burries and Peat were named to the Big 12 All-Freshman team.

During Lloyd's five years as head coach, the Wildcats have had 18 all-conference selections (including honorable mentions). Six players have earned all-freshman recognition under Lloyd's leadership.

Bradley averaged 13.4 points, 3.3 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 1.4 steals in Big 12 play. The native of Rochester, New York, scored 17 or more points seven times in conference play, including against Iowa State on March 2 to clinch the regular season title.

Awaka is the top offensive rebounder in the country, according to KenPom.com. He averaged 9.6 points and 9.5 rebounds while playing 21 minutes off the bench. Although he did start three games while Peat was injured, Awaka led the country in total rebounds coming off the bench. His 271 rebounds off the bench are the most by any reserve player in the nation since 2023-24.

For Lloyd, the 29 regular season wins are the most in U of A history. His 141 career wins in his first five seasons as a head coach are an NCAA record. Arizona has a 15-2 record in Quad 1 games this season and are 10-2 against AP Top 25 teams. The Wildcats led the Big 12 in scoring, field goal percentage, field goal percentage defense and 3-point field goal percentage defense in league play and posted a league-best rebounding margin of plus-9.44.

As the No. 1 seed in the 2026 Phillips 66 Big 12 Men's Basketball Tournament, Arizona will play on Thursday at noon in Kansas City against either Central Florida, Cincinnati or Utah on ESPN or ESPN2.

A version of this story originally appeared on the Arizona Athletics website.