Arizona basketball has released its slate of games ahead of the upcoming season outside the Big 12. With new faces, the Wildcats will be looking to dominate a regular season with serious competition.
Arizona will be pitted against Duke and UCLA, as well as some low-majors, Canisius and Southern Utah. These outings will surely provide insight into how well Arizona will fare ahead of their first Big 12 season, seeing them face some very talented rosters.
Key Games:
Wisconsin
Friday, Nov. 15 at Kohl Center
One of the first real tests for the Wildcats will be an early matchup against the University of Wisconsin. This is the Wildcat’s first away game of the season. They are hoping to repeat last year’s success after winning their first away game against then No. 2 Duke.
Last year, the Wildcats and Badgers met in McKale resulting in a 98-73 victory. Arizona had five players achieve double digits, however, out of the five players that scored 10+ in the matchup only Caleb Love remains. Pelle Larsson and Keshad Johnson would both make their way to the NBA, while Kylan Boswell and Oumar Ballo would transfer.
After the matchup, Wisconsin would go on to be 22-14 at the end of the season and lose in the Big Ten championship to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Followed by exiting in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to 12th-seed James Madison University.
Arizona’s and Wisconsin’s rosters have drastically changed from the last matchup, this will be an exciting matchup for Wildcats fans to watch.
Duke
Friday, Nov. 22 at McKale Center
Arizona faces the Blue Devils on their home court this season in an extremely exciting matchup. The Blue Devils acquired a lot of strength since the last meeting, especially in the highly anticipated freshman, Cooper Flagg. Flagg enters the 2024-2025 season after being the consensus number-one recruit in the nation.
The Wildcats won their last matchup against the Blue Devils 78-73 in Cameron Indoor Stadium. Once again only one returning player who scored double digits is Caleb Love.
UCLA
Saturday, Dec. 14 at Footprint Center in Phoenix
This former Pac-12 matchup will be the Wildcat’s only other away game in their non-conference schedule. Arizona and UCLA have consistently faced off in the past decade as part of the same conference. However, this will be the first time since 1977 that these two teams have met in different conferences. The last meeting in 1977 occurred when Arizona was still part of the Western Athletic Conference.
The Wildcats have won six of their last eight matchups against the Bruins in their last two seasons. In the 2023-2024 season, Arizona won both away and at home against UCLA.
Both teams will once again look vastly different from their Pac-12 days with solid changes in transfer and recruiting.
Looking Ahead
Arizona basketball starts its season with its annual Red-Blue game on Oct. 4 in which fans will be able to see more of the squad and their depth headed into the season. They will also be traveling up to Glendale on Oct. 11 for another rendition of their Red-Blue game at Desert Diamond Arena. Their first game of the season will commence against Canisius University on Nov. 4 in Tucson at McKale Center.