Big 12 newcomers highlight Day 1 of the 2025 tournament

With four new teams, two of which played in Wednesday’s first-round matchups, fans got an early glimpse of the chaotic energy the four new schools — Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah — could bring in this year’s rendition of the conference tournament.

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Devils dance into the record books

It was indeed the No. 15-seeded Sun Devils who stole the show on the tournament’s opening day. ASU provided the first real upset of the tournament, knocking off No. 10 Cincinnati.

It was a dramatic rematch that saw the Bearcats cut the Sun Devils’ lead down from 19 to just three in the final moments of the fourth quarter. Still, ASU held on to win 82-75 and pick up the first conference tournament win of Natasha Adair’s Sun Devil head coaching career.

“What a win,” Adair told media Wednesday. “We have been talking all year about putting it together. And we also talked about tonight was a new season. What did we learn from the old season bringing it into this (tournament). … We survive and advance. We get to play another day, same time tomorrow.”

Adair wasn’t the only Sun Devil to finish Wednesday’s game with a milestone. With 27 points on the night, junior guard Jalyn Brown surpassed the necessary mark of 21 points to join the 1,000-point club. 

Brown was seemingly unstoppable, going 9-for-16 From the field and 2-for-4 from 3. Altogether, the Sun Devils shot well above their season splits of 40.6% FG and 33.9% 3PT. This was in large part due to graduate guard Tyi Skinner who made 4-of-8 From deep. Skinner’s four 3-pointers moved her season total up to 76, tying Katie Hempen for the school’s single-season record.

“I’m grateful for the opportunity,” Skinner said. “I feel like ever since I got here, the Sun Devils and ASU (have) done nothing but support us and put us in a position to be successful on the court.”

With one more made 3-pointer, Skinner can take hold of the record all by herself. In order to eclipse the 1,000-point mark in her time as a Sun Devil, Brown needs just two more points.

The Sun Devils live to see another day and will face No. 7 Iowa State on Thursday night. Adair expects the game to be physical with Audi Crooks manning the paint for the Cyclones. 

The Sun Devils are already living on borrowed time, after Wednesday’s upset. Time will tell if ASU has what it takes to continue embodying the March Madness spirit.

Peterson makes BYU pay

Another team that pulled off an “upset” Wednesday was No. 13 UCF. The Knights took down No. 12 BYU in the most lopsided game of the day. 

The 81-69 final score was inflated by graduate guard Kaitlin Peterson’s 35 points. She scored the most of any player in Wednesday’s game. Peterson had her way primarily inside the arc and at the free-throw line. She hit 12-of-21 shots from the field and 9-of-12 from the line. 

“I could tell at breakfast, I knew she was ready,” UCF head coach Sytia Messer told media postgame. “I could tell that her mindset was ready by the way she warmed up.”

The Cougars kept Peterson relatively limited in the first half, holding her to just 10 points. But when her team needed her most, Peterson stepped up and dropped 25 points in the final two quarters, going 10-for-13 from the field.

“Just knowing that this game could have been my last (inspired me),” Peterson told the media Wednesday. “So (I was) just going hard every possession and just not giving up.”

Peterson’s high-volume output comes as little surprise, as her 21.4 points per game in the regular season ranked second in the Big 12 and 13th nationally.

She wasn’t the only UCF player to get going against BYU. Three other Knights also scored in double-figures to bolster Peterson’s performance.

Another all-hands-on-deck outing could be just what UCF needs to keep its season rolling and pull off the upset Thursday versus No. 5 Kansas State.

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Make it, take it

While each game varied in outcome, one thing remained constant across all four matchups: free throws are crucial for winning.

Although UCF beat BYU by 12 in the opener, its free-throw shooting helped clear a path to victory. The Knights outscored the Cougars 18-11 at the line on six more chances. The difference may have been larger than just seven points, but the Knights’ ability to hit free shots gave them the breathing room to operate comfortably down the stretch.

In games 2 and 3, free throws were all the more important. Graduate forward Lior Garzon’s perfect 6-for-6 performance and Skinner’s stellar 10-for-10 day at the line made each team’s respective win possible.

All of Garzon’s foul shots came within the final 50 seconds of the game. The makes were crucial in allowing the Buffaloes to keep Houston at arm’s length in the game’s final seconds. 

“Lior is our best free throw shooter,” Colorado head coach JR Payne said. “But down the stretch, those were really, really important free throws. You have to be able to shed all the frustration of whatever is going on and be able to focus and knock that down. And Lior did a great job of that.”

As a team, Colorado shot a whopping 84.2% from the free-throw line compared to Houston’s 46.7% hit rate. The eight free throws the Cougars missed was the difference between a win that would’ve continued their season and a loss that brought it to an end.

Skinner also hit most of her free throws in the clutch, scoring the Sun Devils’ final six points of the game. When Skinner stepped up to the line with 31 seconds left to play, ASU led by just three. Skinner’s consistency propelled ASU to a seven-point win.

Similar to Colorado, ASU significantly outpaced its opponent at the free-throw line. The Sun Devils went 24-for-30 (80.0%), while Cincinnati shot just 14-for-27 (51.9%). 

“We work on them all the time, and we have practices where we have to make 50 free throws before we leave,” Brown said. “I think it’s about concentration and knowing yourself.”

“You’ve got to practice it and work on it and it shows,” Skinner added.

In the final game missed free throws once again made up the difference. Texas Tech and Kansas both made 11 shots from the line while missing eight and six, respectively.

In a four-point game, the made shots could have given the Red Raiders more breathing room or even changed the outcome of the game for the Jayhawks. 

“I thought we got some good shots, obviously missed six free throws,” Kansas head coach Brandon Schneider said. “ (We) had enough open opportunities to win the game, just didn’t make enough baskets.”

The game between Kansas and Texas Tech was the only game of the day in which the worse free-throw shooting team won. Additionally, only one of Wednesday’s games was decided by a double-digit point differential.

If games continue to be close for the remainder of the tournament, a team’s ability to make its free throws might be the most accurate indicator of how far it can go in this year’s championship tournament.

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