The 2024–25 Arizona Wildcats men's basketball team represented the University of Arizona during the 2024–25 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The team was led by Tommy Lloyd in his fourth season as head coach. The season marked the Wildcats' 51st season at McKale Center in Tucson, Arizona, and their first season as members of the Big 12 Conference.

The Arizona Wildcats drew an average home attendance of 14,058, the 18th-highest of all college basketball teams.https://stats.ncaa.org/rankings/change_sport_year_div

Previous season

The Wildcats finished the 2023–24 season 27–9, 15–5 in Pac-12 Conference play, winning their 18th and final Pac-12 regular season title and overall 1 seed in the Pac-12 tournament. They lost their semifinal match up against eventual tournament champion Oregon 75–68. The Wildcats were invited to their 34th NCAA tournament appearance, receiving the number 2 seed in the West Regional. They lost in the Sweet Sixteen to number 6 seed Clemson 77–72.

Offseason Coaching staff changes Former assistant coach Riccardo Fois accepted an assistant coaching job with the Sacramento Kings in the NBA. TJ Benson was promoted to assistant coach after spending the previous three seasons as a Special Assistant to the Head Coach/Recruiting Coordinator for the program. Ken Nakagawa was promoted to assistant coach after spending the previous three seasons as the Director of Advanced Scouting. Rem Bakamus was promoted to assistant coach after spending the previous three seasons as the Director of Player Development.

Departures Due to COVID-19, the NCAA ruled in October 2020 that the 2020–21 season would not count against the eligibility of any basketball player, thus giving all players the option to return in 2022–23. Additionally, any players who have declared for the 2024 NBA draft—including seniors, who must opt into this year's draft—have the option to return if they make a timely withdrawal from the draft and end any pre-draft relationships with agents. Thus, separate lists will initially be maintained for confirmed and potential departures.

Arizona Wildcats departuresNameNumberPos.HeightWeightYearHometownReason Dylan Anderson 44 F 7'0" 240 lb Jr Gilbert, AZ Transferred to Boise State Oumar Ballo 11 C 7'0" 260 lb Sr Koulikoro, Mali Transferred to Indiana Filip Borovićanin 1 G 6'9" 225 lb Jr Belgrade, Serbia Transferred to New Mexico Kylan Boswell 4 G 6'2" 200 lb Jr Champaign, IL Transferred to Illinois Keshad Johnson 16 F 6'7" 225 lb GS Oakland, CA Out of eligibility Pelle Larsson 3 G 6'6" 215 lb Sr Nacka, Sweden Declared for NBA Draft Paulius Murauskas 23 F 6'8" 225 lb So Kaunas, Lithuania Transferred to Saint Mary'sReference:

Acquisitions Arizona Wildcats ArrivalsNameNumberPos.HeightWeightYearHometownReason Tobe Awaka 30 F 6'8" 250 lb Jr Hyde Park, NY Transfer from TennesseeAddison Arnold2G6'3"190 lbFrSimi Valley, CAwalk-on Anthony Dell’Orso 3 G 6'6" 190 lb Jr Melbourne, Australia Transfer from CampbellSven Djopmo42G6'2"175FrReims, Francewalk-on Jackson Francois 8 G 6'5" 160 lb Jr Las Vegas, NV Transfer from Missouri (walk-on) Liam Lloyd 11 G 6'5" 190 lb Sr Spokane, WA Transfer from Northern Arizona Trey Townsend 4 F 6'6" 230 lb Sr Oxford, MI Transfer from Oakland

Recruiting classes 2024 recruiting class

2024 overall class rankings ESPN -- -- 0 3 3 On3 Recruits 6 2 -- 3 3 Rivals 3 3 0 3 3 247 Sports 3 1 -- 3 3

Red and Blue game Arizona announced on August 20, 2024 that the Wildcat cats would host their annual Red-Blue Game at the McKale Center on October 4, 2024. Richard Jefferson and Channing Frye are serving as the hosts for the game for the second year in a row. The game is being streamed on ESPN+. The night began with a three-point contest featuring Carter Bryant, Anthony Dell'Orso, Liam Lloyd and Caleb Love. Dell'Orso and Love made the finals with Love winning the shootout making 17 of 25 three pointers. The second event of the night featured a dunk contest featureTobe Awaka, Jaden Bradley, Carter Bryant and KJ Lewis. Bryant and Lewis advanced to the finals with Carter Bryant winning with a total score of 59 points out of 60. The dunk contest was judged by Jefferson, Frye and former player Corey Williams.

The night ended with the team splitting into two squads, Team Blue & Team Red. Team Red defeated Team Blue, 47–44. Caleb Love lead all scorers with 19 points, followed by Anthony Dell'Orso on Team Blue with 15 points.

Preseason Big 12 Preseason Poll Big 12 CoachesPoints 1.Kansas215 (9) 2.Houston211 (5) 3.Iowa State194 (1) 4.Baylor185 5.Arizona179 (1) 6.Cincinnati140 7.Texas Tech135 8.Kansas State133 9.BYU116 10.TCU90 11.UCF83 12.Arizona State64 13.West Virginia62 14.Oklahoma State46 15.Colorado37 16.Utah30Reference: (#) first-place votes

Pre-Season All-Big 12 Team First Team Player SchoolCaleb LoveArizonaLJ CryerHoustonJ’Wan RobertsTamin LipseyIowa StateHunter Dickinson†Kansas† denotes unanimous selectionReference: Second Team Player SchoolNorchad OmierBaylorJeremy RoachKeshon GilbertIowa StateDajuan Harris JrKansasColeman HawkinsKansas State† denotes unanimous selectionReference: Player of the Year: Hunter Dickinson, Kansas Co-Newcomer of the Year: Jeremy Roach, Baylor & Coleman Hawkins, Kansas State Freshman of the Year: V. J. Edgecombe, Baylor

Award watch lists Listed in the order that they were released Jerry West AwardCaleb LoveSGGr.Naismith College Player of the YearJohn R. Wooden AwardOscar Robertson AwardJulius Erving AwardKJ LewisSFSo.Karl Malone AwardTrey TownsendPFGr.Kareem Abdul-Jabbar AwardMotiejus KrivasCSo.

Personnel

Roster Roster below is based on the 2024–25 roster with outgoing players removed and incoming players added. The roster will undergo multiple changes as players leave via the NBA draft or transfers and players are added via the transfer portal and recruiting.

Note: Players' year is based on remaining eligibility. The NCAA did not count the 2020–21 season towards eligibility.

Depth chart

Schedule The Wildcats non-conference schedule was announced on September 9, 2024. Arizona has confirmed games against Duke at McKale Center, Wisconsin in Madison, and has been confirmed to play in the 2024 Battle 4 Atlantis, which includes Gonzaga, Indiana, Louisville, Providence, West Virginia, Oklahoma and Davidson. Due to the tournament format, Arizona will be guaranteed one game in the 2025 Big 12 tournament.

!colspan=12 style=""| Exhibition

!colspan=12 style=""| Non-conference regular season

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Source:

Game summaries This section will be filled in as the season progresses.

Source:

Eastern New Mexico (exhibition)

Point Loma (exhibition)

Canisius

Old Dominion

at Wisconsin

Duke

vs Davidson (Battle 4 Atlantis)

vs Oklahoma (Battle 4 Atlantis Semifinal)

vs West Virginia (Battle 4 Atlantis 3rd place game)

Southern Utah

vs UCLA (Rivalry)

Samford

Central Michigan

TCU

at Cincinnati

at West Virginia

UCF

Baylor

at Texas Tech

at Oklahoma State

Colorado

Iowa State

at Arizona State (rivalry)

at BYU

Texas Tech

at Kansas State

Houston

at Baylor

BYU

Utah

at Iowa State

Arizona State (rivalry)

at Kansas

Kansas (Big 12 Quarterfinals)

Texas Tech Big 12 Tournament (Big 12 Semifinals)

Houston (Big 12 Championship)

Akron (round of 64)

Oregon (round of 32)

Duke (Sweet 16)

Awards and honors

Weekly honors Caleb Love Big 12 Player of the Week 24.5 PPG/3.5 RPG/4.5 APG Week 12 February 3, 2025 Tobe Awaka Big 12 Newcomber of the Week 14.0 PPG/10.0 RPG/1.0 APG/1.5 SPG Week 13 February 10, 2025

Midseason awards watchlists Midseason award honors Jerry West Award Caleb Love SG

Final awards watchlists Final award honorsJerry West AwardCaleb LoveSG

Postseason

Conference honors Caleb Love (SG) All Big 12 First Team 17.0 PPG/4.3 RPG/4.0 APG/1.3 SPG Tobe Awaka (PF) All Big 12 Honorable Mention 8.8 PPG/8.0 RPG Henri Veesaar (PF) All Big 12 Honorable Mention 10.9 PPG/5.4 RPG/1.5 APG/1.0 SPG/1.6 BPG

Rankings

See also 2024–25 Arizona Wildcats women's basketball team

References