No. 1 Arizona will end its pre-Christmas schedule Monday night against Bethune-Cookman at McKale Center after overpowering San Diego State late Saturday night at Phoenix.
The Wildcats (11-0) are the eighth team in program history to be unbeaten after the first 11 games. A victory over Bethune-Cookman would mark the best start of the Tommy Lloyd era. Arizona started 11-0 in Lloyd’s first season of 2021-22.
The game at 7 p.m. will be televised on ESPN-Plus with a treat: Former Arizona players Matt Muehlebach and Corey Williams will call the game, according to Arizona’s press release. The Voice of the Wildcats, Brian Jeffries, will announce the game with Ryan Hansen on Wildcat Sports 1290-AM.
Bethune-Cookman (3-8) was a media preseason favorite to win the Southwest Athletic Conference despite welcoming 10 additions to its roster this season under fifth-year coach Reggie Theus.
Theus, a 13-year NBA veteran, is also Bethune-Cookman’s athletic director.
Six of his team’s eight losses have come on the road against Auburn, Miami (Fla.), Dayton, Indiana, Missouri and Saint Louis.
ARIZONA’S 11-0 STARTS
| Season | Start | Final | Coach | Finish |
| 2025–26 | 11–0 (Current) | TBD | Tommy Lloyd | TBD |
| 2021–22 | 11–0 | 33–4 | Tommy Lloyd | Sweet 16 |
| 2014-15 | 12-0 | 34-4 | Sean Miller | Elite Eight |
| 2013–14 | 21–0 | 33–5 | Sean Miller | Elite Eight |
| 2012–13 | 14–0 | 27–8 | Sean Miller | Sweet 16 |
| 1987–88 | 12–0 | 35–3 | Lute Olson | Final Four |
| 1931–32 | 16–0 | 18–2 | Fred Enke | Border Conf. Champs |
| 1912–13 | 11–0 | 13–2 | J.F. McKale | No postseason |
Bethune-Cookman will play one more road game against Oklahoma State Dec. 29 before beginning SWAC play at home against Florida A&M, which is also coached by an NBA veteran — Charlie Ward.
Theus’ team enters the game against Arizona with consecutive losses of 82-60 to Missouri and 112-53 against Saint Louis.
Despite the early-season undesirable results, Theus believes Bethune-Cookman will learn from the tough schedule and be a factor in the race for the SWAC title.
“Our best basketball is coming mid-to-late January,” Theus said. “That’s what we have to assume. It’s going to take them that long to really understand the nuances, and they have to figure out who they are.”
Senior wing player Jakobi Heady returned to Bethune-Cookman this season after transferring to Central Michigan last year.
Heady averaged a team-high 15.4 points a game two years ago at Bethune-Cookman. He tops the team with 16.3 points per game while shooting 51% from the field and 48.5% from 3-point range.
He and his teammates will face an Arizona defense that limited San Diego State to 26.3% shooting from the field in Arizona’s 68-45 win.
Arizona outrebounded the Aztecs 52-28 behind Tobe Awaka’s 15-rebound performance. Awaka nearly outrebounded San Diego State in the second half, pulling down 10 while the Aztecs tallied 12.
Awaka leads the nation in defensive rebounding percentage (26.7) and offensive rebounding percentage (36.1).
“At the end of the day, it’s just when the shot goes up, go chase the ball,” Awaka said. “The stats and stuff are cool, I know people are going to bring it up. As long as we win that’s all that matters.”
Motiejus Krivas contributed 13 rebounds against the Aztecs.
Arizona ranks fifth in the nation in rebounding margin at plus-13.
Bethune-Cookman is 350th at minus-6.
Playing a game less than 48 hours after concluding the game against San Diego State is welcomed by Lloyd.
“We’ll come meet (Sunday) afternoon, go over Monday’s game plan, kind of a light practice, and come out Monday and have the same effort energy we’ve had in the other games this year,” Lloyd said. “It’s obviously been a good start, but we want to keep pushing. We know this is a long season.
“We also respect that no one knows how things look in a week or two, so you just gotta keep going at it day by day.”
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History lesson …
Reggie Theus is the head coach of Bethune-Cookman, which will play at Arizona tomorrow night at McKale Center at 7. He is also the HBCU school's athletic director. A 13-year NBA veteran who was a two-time All-Star, he played at UNLV for Jerry Tarkanian.
He… pic.twitter.com/CGbXXivxay— Javier Morales (@JavierJMorales) December 21, 2025
— This will be the second meeting between Bethune-Cookman and Arizona. The first meeting took place in 2010-11, with Arizona winning 78-45 at McKale Center. Derrick Williams had 19 points and six rebounds to lead Arizona.
— Arizona’s 11-0 start to the season is its best since starting 11-0 in 2021-22. The last time Arizona started a season 12-0 was 2014-15 (12-0). The best mark to start a season is 21-0 in 2013-14.
— Arizona’s 23-point win over San Diego State on Saturday was the sixth consecutive win by 20-plus points, the longest such streak by the Wildcats since a six-game streak in 1942-43.
— Senior Jaden Bradley was named MVP of the HOF Series Phoenix game against San Diego State. He finished with a game-high 11 points, seven rebounds, three assists and one steal.
— Freshman Brayden Burries had 10 points, three rebounds and two assists against SDSU. In the last six games, he is averaging 18.2 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.5 assists on 56.8% shooting from the floor.
— Awaka is the only player in the country with four games of 15-plus rebounds this season.
— Arizona is No. 1 in the AP Top 25 poll for the third straight week and the 42nd week in program history.
— Lloyd is in his fifth season as the head coach at Arizona and has a record of 123-33 (.788). It’s the fourth-best winning percentage among active D-1 head coaches that are in at least their fifth season.
— Under Lloyd, Arizona is 26-13 against Top 25 opponents. The .667 winning percentage is tied with UConn for the best in the country. Through games played Nov. 21, Arizona is the only team in the country with five wins over Top 25 opponents this season.
— The Wildcats held San Diego State to 1 of 14 from the 3-point line on Saturday. The Aztecs were shooting 41.1% from beyond the arc entering the game.
— Bradley is averaging 13.6 points, 4.0 assists, 3.8 rebounds and shooting 52.9% from the floor. He also has a 2.8 assist-to-turnover ratio.
— Freshman forward Koa Peat leads the team in scoring (14.0 points per game) and is shooting 55.7% from the floor. He’s also averaging 5.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.0 steal.
— Krivas has three games with 10-plus rebounds this season. He posted his first career double-double with 14 points and 14 rebounds against Alabama. He’s averaging 10.0 points, 8.4 rebounds on 62% FG shooting.
— Freshman Ivan Kharchenkov is the only true freshman in the country to have five steals against a Top 25 opponent this season after doing so against No. 12 Alabama. He is averaging 8.3 points, 3.6 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.7 steals. Against Auburn, he finished with 12 points and a season-high eight assists in addition to five rebounds and three steals.
— Senior guard Anthony Dell’Orso has made at least one 3FG in each of the last six games and has connected at a 40% clip from the 3-point line in 48 games at Arizona.
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