The 2025–26 Arizona Wildcats men's basketball team represented the University of Arizona during the 2025–26 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The team was led by Tommy Lloyd in his fifth season as head coach. The season marked the Wildcats' 52nd season at McKale Center in Tucson, Arizona, and their second season as members of the Big 12 Conference.
Arizona won their first Big 12 regular season title and 30th regular season conference title in school history. They are also the first Arizona team to have 29 regular season wins, and have the most wins in a season, with 36. The Arizona Wildcats drew an average home attendance of 14,297, the 15th-highest of all college basketball teams.
Previous season
The Wildcats finished the 2024–25 season 24–13, 14–6 in Big 12 Conference play, finishing tied for third and received the number 3 seed in the Big 12 tournament. They lost to number 1 seed Houston in the finals 72–64. The Wildcats were invited to their 35th NCAA tournament appearance, receiving the number 4 seed in the East Regional. They lost in the Sweet Sixteen to number 1 seed Duke.
Offseason
Coaching staff changes
Former assistant coach Steve Robinson announced his retirement following a 42-year long coaching career. He held jobs previously at Tulsa and Florida State as the head coach, as well as Radford, Cornell, Kansas and North Carolina as an assistant coach. On May 5, 2025, Arizona hired former Texas assistant coach Brandon Chappell as the replacement for Robinson. Chappell spent the previous three seasons with Texas as an assistant, as well as assistant coach with UNLV, Lamar (his alma mater) Arkansas-Fort Smith and Northern Arizona as a graduate assistant under current associate head coach Murphy. On August 1, 2025 Rem Bakamus took an assistant coaching position with Texas Tech. On September 4, 2025 Arizona promoted Evan Manning to assistant coach and hired Austin Torres as director of basketball operations.
Departures Any players who have declared for the 2025 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 Carter Bryant 9 SF 6'8" 220 lb So. Corona, CA Drafted by the San Antonio Spurs Luke Champion 24 F 6'8" 205 lb Gr Suwanee, GA Out of eligibility Will Kuykendall 12 G 6'3" 175 lb So. Santa Maria, CA Transferred to Baylor KJ Lewis 5 SF 6'4" 210 lb Jr. El Paso, TX Transferred to Georgetown Caleb Love 1 SG 6'4" 205 lb Gr St. Louis, MO Signed with the Portland Trail Blazers Liam Lloyd 11 G 6'5" 190 lb Sr. Spokane, WA Out of eligibility Conrad Martinez 55 G 6'0" 165 lb Jr. Granollers, Spain Transferred to High Point Will Menaugh 33 F 6'10" 245 lb Sr. Tucson, AZ Out of eligibility Emmanuel Stephen 34 C 7'0" 260 lb So. Glendale, AZ Transferred to UNLV Trey Townsend 4 F 6'6" 220 lb Sr. Oxford, MI Out of eligibility Henri Veesaar 13 C 7'0" 225 lb Jr. Tallinn, Estonia Transferred to North Carolina Grant Weitman 15 G 6'4" 205 lb Gr Tucson, AZ Out of eligibilityReference:
Acquisitions Transfers Arizona Wildcats transfersNameNumberPos.HeightWeightYearHometownReason Evan Nelson 11 PG 6'2" 170 lb Gr Tucson, AZ Transfer from Harvard
Recruiting classes 2025 recruiting class
2025 overall class rankings ESPN 4 2 2 2 4 On3 Recruits 3 2 2 1 3 Rivals 1 1 3 0 3 247 Sports 3 2 3 0 3
Red and Blue game Arizona played its annual Red Blue game on October 3, 2025. The team was split into two teams, Red and Blue and proceeded to play an inter-squad scrimmage. The night featured a basketball game with Arizona's Adaptive Athletics wheelchair basketball team, a three-point contest that had two members of the men's team: Anthony Dell'Orso and Evan Nelson and two members of the Arizona women's team: Mickayla Perdue and Mireia Jurado and a dunk contest featuring four members of the men's team: Dwayne Aristode, Mabil Mawut, Addison Arnold, and Koa Peat.
The three point contest was won won by Dell'Orso, who defeated Perdue of the women's team, 19−18 in the final round. The dunk contest was judged by Hannah Fields, Myles O'Neal, Rob Gronkowski, Mix Master Mike, and Camille Kostek. The two final contestants of the dunk contest were Aristode and Arnold but the dunk contest was won by Gronkowski who jumped over a power wheel car, with all the judges giving him a ten for a combined score of fifty.
In the inter-squad scrimmage the Red team, which was coached by assistant coach TJ Benson defeated the Blue team 45−44, which was coached by assistant coach Ken Nakagawa. Brayden Burries, who played on the Red team, led all scoring with twenty-two points, four players: Dell'Orso (Blue), Motiejus Krivas (Blue), Burries (Red) and Tobe Awaka (Red) had five rebounds, and Jaden Bradley led both teams in assists with four. Gronkowski, snuck onto the court to play with the Blue team wearing a wig, fake mustache and jersey with the name "Rocky Gronkstone", but was ejected by the officials.
Preseason The Big 12 preseason coaches poll was released on October 16, 2025. All awards were voted on by the league's 16 head coaches, who could not vote for their own team or players. The Big 12 preseason media poll was released on October 30, 2025.
Big 12 Preseason Coaches Poll Big 12 CoachesPoints 1.Houston224 (12) 2.BYU204 (1) 3.Texas Tech200 4.Arizona179 (1) 5.Iowa State170 6.Kansas163 7.Baylor137 8.Cincinnati120 9.Kansas State117 10.TCU90 11.West Virginia79 12.Oklahoma State77 13.Utah50 14.UCF39 15.Colorado37 16.Arizona State34Reference: (#) first-place votes
Big 12 Preseason Media Poll Big 12 Media 1.Houston 2.Texas Tech 3.BYU 4.Arizona 5.Iowa State 6.Kansas 7.Baylor 8.Kansas State 9.Cincinnati 10.TCU 11.West Virginia 12.Oklahoma State 13.Utah 14.UCF 15.Colorado 16.Arizona StateReference:
Award watch lists Listed in the order that they were released Jerry West AwardBrayden BurriesShooting GuardFreshmanKarl Malone AwardKoa PeatPower ForwardJohn R. Wooden AwardNaismith AwardOscar Robertson TrophyJaden BradleyPoint Guard Senior
Personnel
Roster Roster below is based on the 2025–26 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.
Source:
Note: Players' year is based on remaining eligibility.
Schedule and results
!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: Exhibition Saint Mary's
Embry–Riddle
Regular season
Florida
Utah Tech
Northern Arizona
vs UCLA (rivalry)
at UConn
Denver
Norfolk State
Auburn
vs Alabama (C.M. Newton Classic)
Abilene Christian
vs San Diego State
Bethune-Cookman
South Dakota State
at Utah
Kansas State
at TCU
Arizona State (rivalry)
at UCF
Cincinnati
West Virginia
at BYU
at Arizona State (rivalry)
Oklahoma State
at Kansas
Texas Tech
BYU
at Houston
at Baylor
Kansas
Iowa State
at Colorado
Postseason UCF (Big 12 Quarterfinals)
Iowa State (Big 12 Semifinals)
Houston (Big 12 Championship Game)
LIU (Round of 64)
Utah State (Round of 32)
Arkansas (Sweet Sixteen)
Purdue (Elite Eight)
Michigan (Final Four)
Awards and honors
Weekly honors Koa Peat (PF) Big 12 Player of the Week 24.0 PPG/5.0 RPG/4.0 APG/1.5 SPG/0.5 BPG Week 1 November 10, 2025 Big 12 Newcomer of the Week NCAA Player of the Week NCAA Freshman of the Week Big 12 Newcomer of the Week 16.0 PPG/12.0 RPG/3.0 APG/2.0 BPG Week 3 November 24, 2025Jaden Bradley NCAA Player of the Week 21.0 PPG/3.0 RPG/2.0 APG/2.0 SPG Brayden Burries Big 12 Player & Newcomer of the Week 23.0 PPG/6.0 RPG/4.0 APG/2.5 SPG Week 13 February 2, 2026Newcomer of the Week 22.0 PPG/8.5 RPG/4.5 APG/1.0 SPG Week 17 March 2, 2026
Postseason awards Conference honors Jaden Bradley (G) Big 12 Player of the Year 13.4/3.5/4.6 Tobe Awaka (F) Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year 9.6/9.5/0.9 Tommy Lloyd (HC) Big 12 Coach of the Year N/A
All Big 12 honors Conference honors Jaden Bradley (G) Big 12 First Team 13.4/3.5/4.6 Big 12 Defensive Team Big 12 Most Outstanding Player Big 12 Men's Basketball All-Tournament team Motiejus Krivas (C) Big 12 First Team 10.8/8.2/1.0 Big 12 Defensive Team Brayden Burries (G) Big 12 First Team 16.0/5.0/2.6 Big 12 Freshman Team Big 12 Men's Basketball All-Tournament team Koa Peat (F) Big 12 Third Team 13.8/5.3/2.7 Big 12 Freshman Team Tobe Awaka (F) Big 12 Honorable mention 9.6/9.5/0.9
Final awards watchlists Final award honorsBob Cousy AwardJaden BradleyPGJerry West AwardBrayden BurriesSG
National awards National award honors Sporting News Coach of the Year Award Tommy Lloyd Coach NABC, Sporting News & USBWA Third Team All-America Jaden Bradley G NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player (West Region)Koa PeatFNCAA Tournament All-Tournament teamJaden BradleyG Sources:
Rankings
See also 2025–26 Arizona Wildcats women's basketball team
References