TUCSON, Ariz. - On Sunday, No. 3 Arizona welcomes the UT Arlington Mavericks to the McKale Center for the third game of the week for the Wildcats. Tip-off is slated for 4:00 p.m. MST on Pac-12 Network with Brian Webber and former Wildcat standout Matt Muehlebach on the call.
On Monday, Arizona downed Southern in McKale, 97-59, and then on Friday, UA defeated Belmont, 100-68.
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 1,866-977.
2) Sophomore guard Kylan Boswell is putting up video game numbers through four games of the season. He's shooting 66.7% (18-27) from the field, 66.7% (12-18) from the 3-point line, 100% (6-6) at the free throw line while averaging 13.5 points, 4.8 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 2.0 steals and playing just 23 minutes per game. He was named the Pac-12 Player of the Week.
3) The Wildcats are the only team in the country to have played four games and had 5+ players score in double figures each game.
4) Arizona out-rebounded Southern and Belmont by 30 in each game. Before those two occurrences, the last time Arizona out-rebounded an opponent was 2013.
5) The balanced, team attack of the Wildcats this season is evidenced by six players averaging between 11.0 and 14.0 points per game and seven players with 4.0+ rpg.
SERIES VS. UT Arlington
• This is the first meeting between the two schools
NOTING THE WILDCATS
• Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd is in his third season with the Wildcats and has a record of 65-11. 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.
• Through 76 games of the Tommy Lloyd Era at Arizona, the Wildcats have registered 20 or more assists 41 times, including 22 on Friday against Belmont.
• The Wildcats lead the country in rebound margin (+23.5) and rank seventh nationally in fastbreak points per game (24.25) and points per game (99.2). The 21.5 assists per game are the ninth-best average in the country.
• Freshman Motiejus Krivas scored 20 points off the bench against Belmont, the first Arizona post player to score 20 off the bench since Oumar Ballo did it on Jan. 20, 2022 at Stanford.
• Arizona is outscoring its opponents, 200-96, in the paint through four games.
• 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, NABC and Wooden Award national player of the year preseason watch lists.
