Tommy Lloyd, Arizona Players Break Down Blowout Win vs Auburn
The Wildcats left the Tigers without breathing room in a dominant victory at the McKale Center to remain undefeated.
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Arizona proved who the king of the jungle is, as the Wildcats smacked down the Auburn Tigers, 97-68, on Saturday night at the McKale Center.
The Wildcats improved to 9-0 on the season and added another ranked win to their resume by beating the 20th-ranked Tigers. Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd's aggressive scheduling in the non-conference portion of the schedule hasn't been an issue yet, despite playing a number of talented freshmen.
Koa Peat continued his early-season brilliance, dropping a team-high 18 points and adding five assists, four rebounds, two steals and one block. Brayden Burries and Jaden Bradley also compiled strong performances, contributing 16 points each, while freshman Ivan Kharchenkov added 12 points and eight assists.
Given No. 1 Purdue's stunning loss to Iowa State, Arizona's fourth ranked victory should vault the Wildcats into the top spot on the AP Poll this week.
Arizona shot 61.2% from the field in the win, the program's best shooting marks against a ranked foe since 2016. Meanwhile, the Wildcats limited Auburn to just 33.3% from the field and 24% from beyond the arc. The only Tiger that gave Arizona trouble was Tahaad Pettiford, who dropped 30 points and knocked down five triples.
Lloyd and Arizona's star had plenty to say following the surprising blowout result.
Tommy Lloyd
- On Arizona's defensive effort: "We want to hang our hat on being a great defensive team and being a great rebounding team. Those are staples you can call on every night. Our guys did a good job. (Assistant coach Jack Murphy) had a great scout. Our guys did a great job coming out and executing it with some effort, some energy. We weren’t perfect, but that wasn’t the expectation. Overall, really happy. I thought Ivan was great. I thought our ball pressure was really good all night. I thought the passing lanes were kind of disrupting their rhythm. We did a great job contesting shots in the paint. The glass was pretty even all day. I don’t love (Auburn) getting 16 offensive rebounds, but they’re a great offensive rebounding team, so that’s going to happen sometimes.”
- On Burries' performance: “I thought it was the best rhythm Brayden’s had in one of these games. We’ve been talking about rhythm and pace a lot with Brayden, and he’s a really good player, but he’s learning and I’ve really been challenging him. It’s kind of getting out of his comfort zone, increasing his pace. I think once he gets more comfortable playing at a faster pace, he has great instincts, and they’ll take over."
Love a good solo press break. pic.twitter.com/xgZNKieXIf
— Arizona Basketball (@ArizonaMBB) December 7, 2025
- On stringing together several scoring runs offensively: “It’s a big deal for us. The game of basketball is so special because offense connects to defense so consistently, and defense to offense and offense to defense. Rebounding, defensive rebounding to offensive transition; all these little connection points in the game make it really fun to coach, and it’s pretty fascinating just when you really get the flow of the game. So, I love that. Then, to go on runs, you have to stack a lot of good things together in all those areas of the game. That’s something we talk about a lot with our guys. We don’t take these runs for granted. You don’t get these runs by being reckless. You get the runs, usually, by being really disciplined, and I thought our guys are starting to gain an understanding of what makes those runs happen.”
- On possibly being ranked No. 1 in the AP Poll: "It’s part of being at a program like this, but we have bigger things on our mind. We know we have a really tough game next week against Alabama, who is obviously going to be battle-tested. I don’t know if there is as big a gap as he’s saying. Michigan has looked unbelievable, the little bit I’ve seen of them. That UConn team we played is right there. They’re really good. Even UCLA, let’s not sleep on them. They’re really good, and they win in a different style. Then Florida is going to be right there. Duke looks really good ... "We’re just going to stay focused on one, and that’s us, trying to go play really well next Saturday in a tough atmosphere in Birmingham.”
- On Bradley's performance: "One of the greatest compliments you can give a high-level basketball player is just being consistent, and he’s consistent in his approach to the game. He’s consistent in the way that he handles me coaching him, and I feel great with him out there. I love having him out there. He guarded a kid that was really good today in Pettiford, and Pettiford got it going a little bit, but JB also had some great stretches defensively. Especially the start of that second half on Pettiford, where we got him to shoot some tougher shots. He missed them, and it kind of helped us get on that extended run to start the second half.”
Koa Peat
- On Arizona's success scoring in the paint this season: “I don’t think it’s just the frontcourt. I think it’s everybody. Honestly, coach preaches paint points, and that’s one of our values as a team. So we try to get out there and get in the paint. If we don’t have anything in there, kick out to the three. That’s the best type of thing we can get as a team. So, just playing off drives and stuff like that, high-lows, simple stuff. Just making sure we’re finishing. It’s been a good formula for us.”
Hereeeeee comes Koa! pic.twitter.com/6qm5XojnOc
— Arizona Basketball (@ArizonaMBB) December 7, 2025
- On if he believes Arizona should be ranked No. 1: “I think we just are going out there trying to win games, trying to get better each and every day in practice. That’s what we’re going to do this week. Get ready for Alabama, keep trying to get better as a team, and see what we could do in the long run. I think we just come with the same mindset to every game. Preparing ourselves to go out and play. Auburn is a really good team, so we worked hard every day in practice and got prepared for Auburn and went out there and did our best, and we came out victorious.”
Jaden Bradley
- On the challenge of defending Pettiford: “I was going to need tough coverage, especially when he is shooting from three. He gets downhill fast and he’s shifty, so I just needed to make him shoot tough shots. He hit a lot of tough shots tonight, but I feel like we did a decent job of trying to contain them overall, get them out of transition and mix it up with different ball screen coverages.”
The dime by @JBsmoovve and the TOUGH finish by @BraydenBurries. pic.twitter.com/48nxtFxN6p
— Arizona Basketball (@ArizonaMBB) December 7, 2025
- On Burries stepping up in a big game: "As the season goes on, he’ll get more comfortable playing. He’s one of the best freshman guards in the country. I’m happy for him to do what he did tonight and excited to see his growth. He’s just playing more confidently. It would be a tough schedule for any freshman, coming into the big games. Even though he didn’t score a lot, he made a big impact defensively and so now he’s just getting the hang of it on offense. He’s only going to get better from here."
Ivan Kharchenkov
- On returning to the lineup after suffering an injury: “I twisted my ankle a little bit, was banged up a little bit, but (athletic trainer Justin Kokoskie) took really good care of me. It wasn’t that bad. We were just a little bit day-to-day. Took care of my foot, did a lot of exercises and just got me ready for the game. I had two full practices, and I felt pretty good.”
HERE COME THE CATS pic.twitter.com/rkicR68Z5J
— Arizona Basketball (@ArizonaMBB) December 7, 2025
- On defending and limiting Auburn's leading scorer Keyshawn Hall to 3-of-11 shooting: “Nothing special. I’ll guard him and try to make his life difficult on the court. No freedom and no easy layups, that’s pretty much it.”
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LOGAN BROWN
Logan Brown is an alumnus of the prestigious Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. He currently works as a General College Sports Reporter On SI. Logan has an extensive background in writing and has contributed to Cronkite Sports, PHNX Sports, and Motion Graphics.
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