TUCSON, Ariz. - The Arizona Wildcats (3-0) are ranked No. 3 in the country in this week's Associated Press Top 25 poll and will host the Belmont Bruins (2-1) on Friday night at the McKale Center. The tip-off is scheduled for 9:00 p.m. MST on Pac-12 Network with J.B. Long and Casey Jacobsen on the call.
The Wildcats are coming off a 97-59 win against Southern on Monday where six players scored in double figures, led by
Keshad Johnson's career-high 17 points. As a team, Arizona shot 53.4% from the floor and dished out 21 assists.
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From now through 12:00pm MST on Friday, Nov. 17, fans are able to purchase $10 tickets to both men's basketball games this weekend as well as Saturday's home football game against Utah. Click here for more info!
STARTING FIVE
1) The 2023-24 season marks the 119th year of men's basketball for the University of Arizona, and the Wildcats have an all-time record of 1,865-977.
2) Arizona is the only team in the country to have scored 297 points through three games and NOT have a player score 20 points in a game. At least five players have scored in double figures in all three games.
3) In two home games this season, Arizona is averaging 109.5 points and shooting 54.5% from the floor and 43.2% from the 3-point line.
4) The Wildcats have scored 60 or more points in three of the six halves played to this point, scoring 61 in both halves vs. Morgan State and 62 vs. Southern on Monday. It's the first time Arizona has scored 60+ in a half in two different games since 2003-04 season.
5) Through 75 games of the Tommy Lloyd Era at Arizona, the Wildcats have registered 20 or more assists 40 times, including 21 on Monday against Southern.
SERIES VS. BELMONT
• Arizona leads the all-time series against Belmont, 1-0
• The only meeting took place on March 21, 2013 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Salt Lake City. Arizona won, 81-64, behind 23 points from Mark Lyons.
NOTING THE WILDCATS
Sophomore guard Kylan Boswell was named Pac-12 Player of the Week on Monday after leading Arizona to wins over Morgan State and at Duke last week. He averaged 15 points while shooting 65% from the floor and 6 of 10 from the 3-point line.
Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd is in his third season with the Wildcats and has a record of 64-11. He set the all-time NCAA record for most wins by a coach in his first two seasons and is the only Power 5 head coach to ever win his conference tournament in each of his first two seasons.
The 2023-24 non-conference schedule ranks as one of the most challenging the in country, with five games against teams ranked in the AP Preseason Top 25 poll. The only other team in the nation to have that many games vs. Top 25 teams is Gonzaga. The gauntlet includes:
- No. 2 Duke (road)
- No. 2 Purdue (neutral)
- No. 18 Michigan State (neutral)
- No. 10 Florida Atlantic (neutral)
- No. 22 Alabama (neutral)
- (rv) Wisconsin (home)
The preseason All Pac-12 teams featured four Wildcats: senior Oumar Ballo (first team), senior Caleb Love (second), sophomore Kylan Boswell (second) and senior Pelle Larson (honorable mention).
Ballo was named to the preseason watch list for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award, Love is on the preseason list for the Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award and Keshad Johnson is on the preseason list for the Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year Award.
The Wildcats return 42% of the minutes played from the 2022-23 season and 41% of the scoring from last year's squad.
Offensively, UA has just 26% of the 3-pointers made and 27% of the 3-pointers attempted a season ago back on the roster this year.
Arizona has six returning scholarship players and seven new players - three transfers and four freshmen - on the 2023-24 team.
Redshirt senior Oumar Ballo was named a preseason All-American by Blue Ribbon Magazine and College Hoops Today. Blue Ribbon along with ESPN.com also named him the preseason favorite to earn Pac-12 Player of the Year. He was also tabbed for the Naismith Trophy and NABC national player of the year preseason watch lists.
WORLDWIDE WILDCATS
Eight different countries, including the United States, are represented on Arizona's 18-man roster. The countries include Serbia, Sweden, Mali, Estonia, Lithuania, England, Spain and the United States.
NOTING DUKE
The 78-73 win at then No. 2 Duke on Nov. 10 was Arizona's first true road win against a team ranked in the top 2 since defeating No. 1 Stanford in 2001.
LLOYD LOVES IT
Head coach Tommy Lloyd's record is 64x-11 in his third season as a head coach. After setting the NCAA record for most wins in his first two seasons (61), the focus turns to the three-year record. The NCAA record for most wins through three seasons is 89 wins by Brad Underwood and Brad Stevens.
BALLO'S BUSINESS
Redshirt senior Oumar Ballo is back for his third year in Tucson. He was a First Team All Pac-12 honoree last year and was named to the 2023 Pac-12 Tournament All-Tournament team as well. He garnered MVP honors at the Maui Invitational a season ago on his way to setting new career highs in nearly every statistical category. He shot 64.7% from the floor during the 2022-23 season, which ranked eighth nationally and is the second-best single-season percentage in Arizona history.
His development has been off the charts over the last three seasons, dating back to the 2020-21 season when he played at Gonzaga:
PPG RPG Min/G
2020-21 2.5 1.5 6.2
2021-22 6.8 4.4 15.2
2022-23 14.2 8.6 27.5
In his last 8 games against Top 25 opponents, Ballo is averaging 15.4 points, 8.5 rebounds and shooting 63.5% from the floor.
THINGS YOU 'LOVE' TO SEE
Senior guard Caleb Love arrived at Arizona this summer after three seasons at North Carolina. He has fit right in with Arizona's free flowing offense.
In the season opener against Morgan State, he dropped 12 points to go with three rebounds, four assists and zero turnovers. Then at Duke, he drilled four clutch free throws in the final minute to seal the Arizona win and improve to 4-1 in his career at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Last time out against Southern, he tallied nine points, six rebounds, five assists and one turnover.
KYLAN KONTINUES
After finishing the 2022-23 season on a tear from the 3-point line, Kylan Boswell picked right up where he left off in Arizona's season opener. He finished with a career-high 18 points against Morgan State. His line at No. 2 Duke was equally impressive, tying for game-high honors with eight rebounds and five assists to go with his 12 points and just one turnover. For the season, he is shooting 66.7% percent from the floor and 61.5% from the 3-point line.
Over the final six games of the 2022-23 regular season and first 3 games to start this season, Boswell has shot 31 of 44 (.705) from the floor and 19 of 30 (.475) from the 3-point line. Those six opponents last year included road games at USC and UCLA, three games in the Pac-12 Tournament and one in the NCAA Tournament.
Boswell also spent time over the summer playing for the USA Basketball U19 team at the FIBA U19 World Cup in Debrecen, Hungary. He was a starter for five of the seven games and averaged 6.4 points and 2.3 assists as Team USA went 5-2 at the event.
LOOK OUT FOR LEWIS
Freshman KJ Lewis was a Top 100 recruit in his class, but Coach Lloyd has commented that he may have been underrated. He won the dunk contest at the Red-Blue Showcase and averaged 13.5 points and 5.0 rebounds in two games on the Summer Tour.
Through three games, he's averaging 8.7 points, 3.3 rebounds, 3.5 assists in just 17 minutes per game of action. His activity on the defensive end is a trademark of his, evidenced by his five steals in the opener against Morgan State.
MAS KRIVAS
One of two freshmen from Lithuania on the roster, Motiejus Krivas stands 7-foot-2 with a 7-foot-5 wingspan. He's show a deft touch around the basket during the Summer Tour and made an impact in the season opener. He scored 12 points - including 8 of 9 effort at the free throw line - against Morgan State. He also added four assists. Then at No. 2 Duke, he had six points, six rebounds, one block and one steal in 12 minutes. The big man also leads Arizona in free throw attempts (20).
In the Summer of 2023, Krivas, at the age of 18, played for Lithuania at the FIBA U20 European Championships in Crete. In the seven games, he averaged 12.9 points, 9.7 rebounds, 2.4 blocks and 2.0 rebounds.
BOROVICANIN BUMP
Sophomore Filip Borovicanin appeared in 14 games as a freshman, averaging 1.3 points and 0.9 rebounds in 3.8 minutes per game. In the season opener, he scored a career-high 11 points and added seven rebounds in 13 minutes after scoring a total of 18 points last year.
He averaged 10.0 points and 5.7 rebounds over the three games in Israel and Abu Dhabi and connected on 7 of 13 from behind the 3-point line. At the Red-Blue Showcase, he out-dueled Caleb Love to win the 3-point contest.
Over the summer, Borovicanin played for Serbia at the FIBA U19 World Cup in Hungary. In seven games, he averaged 14.1 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2.7 assists while shooting 47% overall from the floor. Serbia went 5-2 and finished sixth.
MORE MURAUSKAS
The other Lithuanian freshman is 6-foot-9 wing Paulius Murauskas. Known for his outstanding shooting ability, he won't hesitate to let it fly from the perimeter. he scored 10 points on 4 of 5 shooting from the floor in the opener. Against Southern, he grabbed 10 rebounds to gow th his five points.
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP EXPERIENCE
Senior transfers Caleb Love (North Carolina) and Keshad Johnson (San Diego State) have both played in the national championship game of the NCAA Tournament.
Love helped UNC get there in 2022 before falling to Kansas in the title tilt. He scored 30 points against UCLA in the Sweet 16 of that tournament and 28 points against Duke in the national semifinal game.
Johnson scored 14 points for the Aztecs in the 2023 championship game against UConn back in March.
ANDERSON REDSHIRT
Head coach Tommy Lloyd announced after the season opener that sophomore forward Dylan Anderson intends to redshirt the 2023-24 season. He would then have three seasons of eligibility remaining. Lloyd indicated that it was a choice made by Anderson and supported by the coaching staff and his teammates.
