2025-26 Arizona Men's Basketball Season Preview
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Arizona men's basketball heads into another season with high expectations under coach Tommy Lloyd. In its first season in the Big 12 last year, Arizona went 24-13 overall and 14-6 in conference play, losing to Houston in the conference tournament championship and to top-seeded Duke in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.
The Wildcats played their first games against other teams in exhibition action over the past couple of weeks, defeating Saint Mary's 81-68 and Embry-Riddle 113-42.
Arizona was selected to finish fourth in the Big 12 media poll this year, only behind Houston, BYU and Texas Tech. The Wildcats did not have a player land on the Preseason All-Big 12 Team
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The Wildcats begin a gauntlet of a non-conference schedule on Monday against the defending champions in Florida at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Arizona is also scheduled to play UCLA, UConn, Auburn, Alabama, and San Diego State in its non-conference schedule before getting into a tough Big 12 schedule.
The conference schedule includes a stretch of seven games in a row against Kansas (at home and on the road), Texas Tech at home, BYU at home, Houston on the road, Baylor on the road, and Iowa State at home.
Arizona will surely be more than tested with one of the toughest schedules in the country, despite having to rely on more freshmen than usual this year as immediate contributors.
Here is a look at this year's roster.
Returners
Senior guard Jaden Bradley leads the way for the Wildcats as the top returner alongside senior forward Tobe Awaka. One of the top point guards and one of the top offensive rebounders in the country, the duo of Bradley and Awaka looks to pick up where they left off last season.
Arizona also has junior center Motiejus Krivas returning after he missed most of last season, along with senior guard Anthony Dell'Orso, as one of the top three-point shooters on the team.
In his first live game back against Saint Mary's, Krivas scored 11 points with 17 rebounds in 32 minutes of playing time. The rotations with both Awaka and Krivas on the court at the same time will be ones to monitor, as Lloyd has had a history of running multiple bigs on the court at once.
Freshman
Arizona has one of its top freshman classes in recent years under Lloyd.
It is headlined by the duo of Koa Peat and Brayden Burries, two players who could be immediate starters for Arizona under Lloyd.
They did not look like most freshman in the two exhibition games, showcasing their size and physicality.
Burries was named to the Jerry West Award watch list for the top shooting guard in the country and Peat was on the Karl Malone Award watch list for the top power forward in the country. They will play a big role in how far the Wildcats go as a team this season.
Arizona also has another top freshman in Dwayne Aristode in this year's class. He is a bit more of a wild card in what his immediate role will be, but he's another versatile, highly regarded freshman who is known for his defensive ability with room to grow on the offensive end.
One other wild card in the freshman class is Ivan Kharchenkov. He committed to Lloyd and Arizona after playing professionally overseas. He is coming off a 17-point performance against Embry-Riddle and could also play an immediate factor in Arizona's rotation this season.
Tranfers
The lone transfer who is expected to play an immediate role in the rotation is Evan Nelson.
Nelson grew up in Tucson and is now playing for his hometown school after transferring from Harvard. He is expected to take over the backup point guard role for Arizona behind Bradley.
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Ari Koslow is a sports writer covering the University of Arizona athletics at On SI. Koslow has been covering Arizona sports for several years. Born and raised in Seattle, he is a diehard Seahawks fan and a longtime sufferer of the Mariners. He is a huge fantasy football fanatic. Koslow is a graduate of Arizona’s School of Journalism.