Four Wildcats Named to Preseason All Pac-12 Team

LAS VEGAS – The Pac-12 Conference released its annual preseason all-conference teams on Tuesday ahead of the start of men's basketball media day on Wednesday in Las Vegas and four Wildcats were selected.

Oumar Ballo was named to the 10-member first team while Kylan Boswell and Caleb Love are on the second team and Pelle Larsson is on the honorable mention list.

Pac-12 Media Day takes place at the Park MGM Hotel in Las Vegas on Wednesday, Oct. 11. Head coach Tommy Lloyd will be joined by seniors Oumar Ballo and Pelle Larsson to represent the Wildcats alongside coaches and players from each of the other 11 conference schools.

Lloyd, Larsson and Ballo will appear live on the Pac-12 Network at 9:00 a.m. PT, answering questions from the media and Pac-12 Network hosts on the main stage.

Ballo is one of five players in the conference that return after receiving first team honors during the 2022-23 season. He was also the 2022-23 Most Improved Player and named to the Pac-12 All-Tournament team as he helped guide the Wildcats to their second straight conference tournament crown. The native of Mali shot 64.7% from the floor last year, the eighth-best percentage in the country and the second-best percentage in Arizona history.

Boswell was an honorable mention All Pac-12 recipient following his freshman season in 2022-23, where he finished the regular season with a pair of 14-point efforts at UCLA and USC and was named Pac-12 Freshman of the Week. He shot 45% overall from the floor and 39% from the 3-point line last year.

Love transferred to Arizona after spending three seasons at the University of North Carolina, where he was a two-time honorable mention All-ACC selection and was on the ACC All-Freshman team in 2021. In 101 games with the Tar Heels, he has scored 1,476 points and made 200 career 3-pointers, the eighth-most in UNC history. He has appeared in seven career NCAA Tournament games and averaged 17.6 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.4 assists while guiding the Tar Heels to the national championship game in 2022 by scoring 30 points against UCLA in the Sweet 16 and 28 points against Duke in the national semifinal.

Larsson was the Pac-12 Sixth Man of the Year in 2022 and narrowly missed being eligible for it in 2023, when he averaged 9.9 points, 4.3 rebounds and shot 47.2% from the floor during the season. He led the Wildcats in free throw percentage (83.5%) and was second on the team with 114 assists and just 51 turnovers.

Arizona opens the 2023-24 seasons with two exhibition games in the month of October starting on Oct. 20 against Lewis-Clark State College at 7:00 p.m. followed by an Oct. 30 matchup against New Mexico Highlands at 7:00 p.m. The regular season begins Nov. 6 against Morgan State at 7:30 p.m. MST on Pac-12 Networks. For more information on tickets, visit arizonawildcats.com/mbk.

2023-24 Pac-12 Men's Basketball Preseason Media All-Conference Team

First Team
Oumar Ballo, Arizona
Adem Bona, UCLA
Keion Brooks Jr., Washington
Branden Carlson, Utah
Isaiah Collier, USC
N'Faly Dante, Oregon
Tristan da Silva, Colorado
Boogie Ellis, USC
Spencer Jones, Stanford
KJ Simpson, Colorado