PHOTO GALLERY BY GILBERT ALCARAZ
Arizona men’s basketball head coach head coach Tommy Lloyd won his 150th game as the Wildcats extended their decades-long winning streak against Northern Arizona as it readied for a daunting upcoming stretch.
On Tuesday night at McKale Center at ALKEME Arena, the No. 12 Wildcats (2-1) beat NAU (0-3) by a score of 90-59 to win their 37th straight against the Lumberjacks.
“I feel like there’s a lot of progress (Tuesday), the guys have practiced well the last couple of days and they came out, I thought the energy was pretty good (Tuesday) night,” Lloyd said. “Of course there was a few execution things on both ends of the floor you wish you could clean up, but I think all in all It felt like the energy was better and kind of the intent with how we want to play was better.”
Arizona leads the all-time series 103-27 and their last loss to NAU was 1968.
The 2026 Naismith and Sporting News National Coach of the Year is 150-37 since becoming a head coach in 2021.
Up next for the Wildcats is a trip to Auburn on Friday at 7 p.m. on ESPN2. Arizona’s next home game is Nov. 18 against No. 4 UConn and then they go to the Maui Invitational.
“Welcome to Arizona basketball, and you know, it doesn’t always feel good, there’s other ways to schedule, but I think if you’re doing what’s right for the program and right for the game, you really challenge yourself and you’re just seeing (Tuesday) night,” Lloyd said. “A couple other top five teams scheduled hard. Lost. That that’s how this deal works and it’s okay, there’s no shame in it and sometimes we as coaches and players want to deliver for the fans and be perfect. You have to let that go, you have to let that go because, if you’re feeling guilty about, losing a tough game early, you’re maybe focused on the wrong things.
“So I’ve really chosen to try to focus just on the day-to-day approach of this team and I’m human like anybody else and didn’t love some of the feelings I had, but I kind of got to get over myself and understand this is about the team and about this team’s season.”
No. 2 Duke lost 79-73 to No. 5 Michigan State and No. 3 Illinois fell 84-78 to Texas Tech.
On Tuesday Arizona went ahead 37-17 with a 9-0 run. The Wildcats led 46-22 after closing out the half with a 7-0 run and holding the Lumberjacks scoreless for 3:21.
Sophomore forward Ivan Kharchenkov finished with a familiar stat line of 20 points and seven rebounds but also had seven assists. Kharchenkov leads the team in scoring early on with 24.7 points per game.
“He’s a really good player and I think good players make the right basketball decision in the moment and I think that’s what he’s doing a good job of,” Lloyd said. “Obviously he’s gonna get a lot of attention and we feel like we have other really good offensive players around him and if teams want to pick their poison and give us a bunch of open looks I think we’re gonna feel good about that.”
NAU cut the lead to 57-40 with about 15 minutes left thanks to an 8-0 run.
With 12:02 left, UA got the lead back to 20, 63-43, after a freshman guard Cameron Holmes lay up on a fast break. It was at the beginning of a 14-0 run for Arizona.
UA freshman guard Caleb Holt scored 17, grabbed five rebounds and had three steals and assists. Senior center Motiejus Krivas had 16 points and seven rebounds.
“I think we got better at the areas we focused on, especially loose balls, rebounding and just being more connected on defense,” Krivas said. “I think we got better there, still have a lot of room to grow and show it against strong teams.”
Arizona shot 61.7% from the field and limited the Lumberjacks to 41.2%. The Wildcats had 11 steals and led by as much as 34 points.
Sophomore guard Chris Komin led NAU in scoring with 17.
Early in the second half, sophomore guard Bryce James blocked a Lumberjack slam dunk and that led to a Kharchenkov dunk. Then 19 seconds of game time later (with a Northern Arizona timeout after the block and slam) James hit a three-pointer.
The starter had three points on 1-for-3 shooting with a couple steals too.
“He’s growing, you see him kind of get more comfortable making hustle plays and kind of connecting the dots here and there and that’s kind of what he’s out there to do,” Lloyd said. “I know Bryce can make the three here and there, but I like all the other stuff that he’s developing and like I said, we haven’t made any final, long-term decisions on the starting lineup and, and I’m just happy that Bryce continues to take advantage of the opportunity and get better.”
SHORT READS
— The Arizona Daily Star reported that fifth year forward RJ Godfrey’s hearing in Pima County Superior Court on his eligibility will be held Nov. 17.
Originally Godfrey had hoped it would happen on Tuesday so he could play against NAU and Auburn.
Should he get a fifth season, he could play against UConn.
“I literally can’t give you any thoughts on that,” Lloyd said. “That’s what I’ve been told.
So, sorry.”
— In the second half UA challenged an out of bounds call and referee Greg Nixon entertained the crowd with his response.
Upon further review, Nixon not only switched the possession to the Wildcats over the ref loudspeaker he said “one of the worst out-of-bounds calls ever made is now being reversed.”
“Greg’s one of the top officials in the game, so I think that’s great showing a little humility, we looked back and asked if we should challenge it and what was told me was 110% and so when I hear 110%, I’m like, ‘okay,’” Lloyd said. “I wanted to call timeout anyways because we got started off kind of on a bad stretch on defense there. Good for Greg for showing some humility and that’s why he’s one of the best officials.”
Nixon was an alternate for the Illinois and UConn Final Four game last season.
— NAU senior forward Dylan Anderson scored two points in 20 minutes in his return to Tucson. He was on the Wildcats’ roster his first two seasons, redshirting his second year.
Lumberjack senior guard Max Majerle scored five points and grabbed three rebounds in 32 minutes in his return to the Old Pueblo. The son of NBA great Dan Majerle went to Pima Community College his sophomore year as the Aztecs finished third in the country.
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