No. 5 Arizona Stays on Track With Impressive Win Over NAU

Although it is early in the college basketball season, No. 5 Arizona (3-0) managed to shoot up the AP Poll following a week where the Wildcats upset then-No. 3 Florida (1-1) with an impressive 93-87 win in Las Vegas. UA moved up eight spots and has rival No. 15 UCLA in Los Angeles.

However, before Arizona faces off against UCLA, the Wildcats took on NAU (1-2) and managed to get a balanced scoring attack with the team shooting 46% from the field in a dominating 84-49 win over the Lumberjacks.

Nov 7, 2025; Tucson, Arizona, USA; Utah Tech Trailblazers guard Tanner Davis (11) attempts to make a lay up while Arizona Wildcats forward Koa Peat (10) attempts to block him during the first half of the game at McKale Memorial Center. Mandatory Credit: Aryanna Frank-Imagn Images | Aryanna Frank-Imagn Images

Through the first two games of the season, all the talk nationally about Arizona has been on freshman Koa Peat, who has scored 48 points while grabbing 10 rebounds and received conference and national awards for his first week.

However, against the Lumberjacks the Wildcats got a balanced scoring attack, which resulted in Peat finishing the game with 10 points and seven rebounds while going 3 of 10 from the field.

Nov 7, 2025; Tucson, Arizona, USA; Arizona Wildcats guard Jaden Bradley (0) makes a lay up during the first half of the game against the Utah Tech Trailblazers at McKale Memorial Center. Mandatory Credit: Aryanna Frank-Imagn Images | Aryanna Frank-Imagn Images

Meanwhile, Arizona saw five players score in double figures with freshman forward Dwayne Aristode scoring a game-high 18 points while knocking down six 3-point shots. Aristode snagged three assists and two rebounds along the way.

Point guard Jaden Bradley had another solid performance by recording 13 points while going 3 of 5 from the field. Bradley managed to collect three assists, three rebounds and two steals while on the court.

Arizona was able to flex its muscles on the glass by outrebounding NAU 45-32, which led to 12 second-chance points.

Nov 11, 2025; Tucson, Arizona, USA; Arizona Wildcats center Motiejus Krivas (13) fouls Northern Arizona Lumberjacks forward Zack Davidson (5) during the first half of the game at McKale Memorial Center. Mandatory Credit: Aryanna Frank-Imagn Images | Aryanna Frank-Imagn Images

The frontcourt of Motiejus Krivas and Tobe Awaka combined for 22 points and 16 rebounds while going 9 of 12 from the field.

One thing that Arizona can take away from this game and try to work on his protecting the basketball. The Wildcats turned the ball over 14 times, which isn’t an extremely high number but the turnovers came in bunches throughout parts of the game.

One thing that was a little shocking when looking at the stat sheet was that freshman forward Ivan Kharchenkov didn’t record a point while going 0 of 5 from the field and 0-for-3 from the 3-point line.

Nov 11, 2025; Tucson, Arizona, USA; Arizona Wildcats forward Ivan Kharchenkov (8) blocks a lay up attempted by Northern Arizona Lumberjacks guard Ryan Abelman (11) during the first half of the game at McKale Memorial Center. Mandatory Credit: Aryanna Frank-Imagn Images | Aryanna Frank-Imagn Images

However, Kharchenkov was able to keep active in the game by collecting four rebounds and four assists helping get the offense flowing even when he wasn’t having his best game.

Now, Arizona will head to Los Angeles to take on UCLA (3-0) in a neutral-site game looking to remain unbeaten on the season and get revenge for its loss to the Bruins a season ago.

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