Arizona recognized its national championship team of 1996-97 and most recent Final Four team, and welcomed new Wildcats into the fold, as well as feature familiar faces at the annual Red-Blue Showcase on Saturday afternoon at McKale Center.
Led by returning Wildcats senior center Motiejus Krivas and sophomore forward Ivan Kharchenkov, the Red team cruised to a 42-32 victory in the Red-Blue game. The Reds lead by as much as 25 with 7:41 left in the second half.
Kharchenkov led all scorers with 13 points. He also had four assists, two steals and a block in 17 minutes. Krivas had 10 points and five rebounds in just under 10 minutes.
“I was excited just to go out there again, playing in front of McKale again, it’s been too many days when I played last time at McKale and yeah, I was just excited to go out there and just hoop and whatever happened, happened, obviously I wanted my team to win,” Kharchenkov said.
They played two 10-minute halves and Red led at the half 29-11.
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— Kevin Thomas (@KevoPosts) September 26, 2026
Freshman guard Caleb Holt, who was ranked as the No. 2 recruit in the country according to the 247Sports, had seven points, six rebounds and three steals in 20 minutes.
“Man, it was crazy, a year ago from today, I was a recruit on a visit, watching the Red and Blue not knowing where I was going to go to school, but I’m glad I made the decision and it was everything I could imagine playing,” Holt said. “It was a great first outing.”
At halftime of the scrimmage, Arizona honored the 1997 national champions with former athletic director Jim Livengood greeting support staff, coach Jim Rosborough and the players who attended: Justin Wessel, Quynn Tebbs, John Ash, Josh Pastner, Jason Stewart, Jason Lee, Eugene Edgerson, Donnell Harris, AJ Bramlett, Bennett Davison, Mike Bibby and Miles Simon.
“They had a blueprint, so we try to just soak in all their energy when they’re here,” Holt said. “Soak in all the good things they bring to us.”
Rosborough and the players got mini ’97 championship trophies.
Senior guard Sumayah Sugapong won the women’s three-point shooting contest 13-9 over teammate freshman guard Priyanka Ponnam.
Then sophomore guard Derek Dixon and Holt played to a 19-19 tie in the men’s three-point contest. Dixon, who transferred from North Carolina won the tie breaker.
“I thought I won, I looked up and I seen my last shot go in and then score went,” Holt said. “I was like, ‘I lost?’ but I thought I won, honestly.”
Dixon defeated Sugapong 18-16 in the finals by hitting the money ball on the last rack.
Freshman guard Cameron Holmes, freshman forward Maksim Brnovic and fifth-year forward Ugnius Jarusevicius competed in the slam dunk contest with Koa Peat, Tobe Awaka, Simon, Bibby and Jaden Bradley serving as judges.
Holmes and Brnovic advanced to second round with Holmes winning with a windmill jam that earned a perfect score.
“Cam is a freak athlete, man, y’all just don’t know,” Holt said. “Like, he goes up and gets rebounds, he can go up dunk, transition, like just stuff I wouldn’t even see a regular person do he could do it.”
Then Dalen Terry grabbed the microphone while Holmes was being interviewed and performed a dunk over Simon and Bibby.
Before the game, Arizona honored the 2026 Final Four team and unveiled their banner.
“It was great, I spent so much time together with them, you know?” Kharchenkov said about former 2025-26 players returning. “Practices, travel days, games, dinners and just seeing them, you know, come together in one place again was like a little reunion again, so it was great.”
Arizona returns to action with a an exhibition game against San Francisco at home Oct. 13.
SHORT READS
— Head coach Tommy Lloyd was not available to the media after the scrimmage because he had to get ready for his gig as “DJ Tomm-E” at the PostMove concert after the showcase.
— Former Wildcats Matt Muehlebach, Reggie Geary and Corey Williams called the game on ESPN+.
— Sophomore guard Bryce James started for the Red, playing 19:23 minutes, getting two points and two steals.
— High-profile Class of 2027 recruits Adan Diggs, Darius Wabbington and Kamsi Awaka (Tobe’s brother) were in attendance for all the festivities.
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