After dominating in its non-conference schedule, No. 1 Arizona will try to begin its Big 12 schedule the same way with Saturday’s opener against Utah at Salt Lake City.
Tipoff is at 2 p.m. The game will be streamed live on Peacock with former Arizona player Matt Muehlebach providing the analysis and James Westling handling the play-by-play. Brian Jeffries and Ryan Hansen will call the game on Wildcats Radio 1290-AM.
Utah prevailed the last time it hosted an unbeaten and ranked Arizona team at home. The Utes knocked off then-No. 4 Arizona 81-66 on Dec. 1, 2022 behind 22 points from Branden Carlson.
On Feb 8, 2024, in Salt Lake City, No. 8 Arizona outlasted Utah 105-99 in a triple-overtime Pac-12 basketball marathon, led by Pelle Larsson’s 27 points for Arizona
The Wildcats (13-0) are off to their best start since 2013-14, when Sean Miller’s team started 21-0.
Five of Arizona’s wins have come against Top 25 opponents.
Jaden Bradley is averaging career highs in points (13.4 per game), assists (4.5), rebounds (3.8), and steals (1.9). He is shooting 53.0% from the field and 52.4% from 3-point range.
The fifth-year senior posted his first career double-double to help Arizona close out nonconference play with a 99-71 victory over South Dakota State on Monday. Bradley scored 13 points with a career-best 10 assists while committing only one turnover.
“The numbers are numbers,” Bradley said. “I like getting my teammates involved and the rest just takes care of itself.”
Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd reiterated that Bradley is “not a stat-driven guy.”
“He’s a really good passer, but he’s a guy that just kind of plays the right way and gets off the ball,” Lloyd said. “When you get off the ball and make a simple pass, it’s probably not going to always lead to a scoring opportunity. I just appreciate that he plays the right way. Never gets caught up in stats.”
Utah has struggled against power-conference opponents.
The Utes (8-5) fell at Washington 74-65 on Monday after scoring only one point over the first 4:30 after halftime.
Leading scorers Terrence Brown and Don McHenry combined to go 0 for 10 from the field in the second half after combining for 25 first-half points.
“It’s something we’ve been telling T.B. and Don, as the schedule goes on and we play better teams, especially when getting to conference, guys are going to really make a concerted effort to stop you from scoring,” Utah coach Alex Jensen told ESPN 700 after the game. “It’s a good lesson for us tonight, because it got harder in the second half and they were denying them.”
NOTES
— Arizona’s 28-point win over South Dakota State on Monday was the eighth consecutive win by 20-plus points, the longest such streak by the Wildcats since an eight-game streak in 1928-29.
— Arizona is 41-32 against Utah, including 6-1 against the Utes under Lloyd. (who is 2-1 in the Huntsman Center).
— Lloyd’s overall record is 125-33, becoming the fastest coach in program history to 125 wins.
— Against South Dakota State, three Wildcats recorded a double-double in the game (Koa Peat, Bradley, and Motiejus Krivas), the first time that has happened since Jan. 12, 2023 at Oregon State.
— The Wildcats finished non-conference play undefeated for the second time in five seasons under
Lloyd (11-0 in 2022-23).
— Arizona has shot 50% or better in 16 of 26 halves so far this season.
— The balanced scoring for the Wildcats has led to seven players averaging 9.0 points or more per game this season.
— Bradley, who was recently named Mid-Season All-American First Team by Jon Rothstein, has 29 assists and 6 turnovers over his last five games.
— Freshman forward Koa Peat leads the balanced Arizona scoring attack at 14.2 points per game. He had his second double-double of the season against South Dakota State, finishing with 19 points and a season-high 14 rebounds.
— Utah announced the mid-year addition of freshman shooting guard Lucas Langarita on Christmas Eve. Langarita comes to Salt Lake City after playing with Casademont Zaragoza in the ACB league in his hometown of Zaragoza, Spain. The 6-5 guard has a wealth of international experience, representing Spain in a multiple of levels (U17, U18, U19, U20) so far in his young career. He averaged 17.1 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.6 assists with Spain at the 2025 U20 EuroBasket.
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