The University of Arizona men’s basketball team concluded its first season in the Big 12 conference and has wrapped up its 2024-2025 season. With a season that began with a disappointing 4-5 start, the Wildcats clawed their way to a 24-13 overall record and 14-6 conference record. Arizona made it as far as the Big 12 Championship title game, where the Wildcats ultimately fell 72-64 to the No. 1 University of Houston in Kansas City, Mo. During the NCAA Tournament, Arizona saw the Sweet 16 after making it past the first two rounds, ultimately collapsing to Duke University in a 100-93 loss to close out the season.
The returning roster from the 2023-2024 season included seniors Caleb Love, Liam Lloyd, Will Menaugh, Trey Townsend, Grant Weitman and Luke Champion. Aside from the graduating class, other returning players included Henri Veesaar, Jaden Bradley, KJ Lewis, Will Kuykendall, Motiejus Krivas, Jackson Cook and Conrad Martinez. Arizona also incorporated new players ranging from freshman class to transfers from the portal. These new additions included players like Townsend, Tobe Awaka, Carter Bryant, Anthony Dell’Orso, Addison Arnold, Emmanuel Stephen and Sven Djopmo.
Regular season recap:
The Wildcats opened their preseason games with a 4-2 record, securing dominant victories over Eastern New Mexico University, Point Loma University, Canisius University, and Old Dominion. On Nov. 15, 2025, Arizona faced the University of Wisconsin, earning their first loss 103-88. Days later, on Nov. 22, 2024, the Wildcats suffered their second defeat of the season to Duke University at home, whom they saw only once more in the NCAA tournament.
Once Arizona’s pre-conference games wrapped up, they headed to the Bahamas to compete in the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament, which ran from Nov. 27-29, 2024. They secured a 104-71 victory over Davidson College in their first match but fell to the University of Oklahoma and West Virginia University in their final two games.
Despite coming off several losses in early-season games, the Wildcats impressed with a 102-66 win over Southern Utah University on Dec. 7, 2024. Anthony Dell’Orso, a junior guard in his first year at Arizona, stunned with 19 points for the match, a team-high for the game.
Following their victory, the Wildcats fell short against the University of California, Los Angeles. However, this was quickly turned around as the Wildcats secured a seven-game consecutive win streak. Five of those wins were Big 12 matchups; three of those teams were ranked.
On Jan. 4, Arizona competed against No. 16 University of Cincinnati, pulling away with a 72-67. Bradley, a junior guard with the Wildcats and starting point guard, led Arizona with 15 points. Carter Bryant, a freshman forward, fell shortly behind with 14 points and shot a near-perfect night, going 5-for-5 from inside, 3-for-3 from beyond the arc and 1-for-2 from the free-throw line.
Arizona held its momentum against No. 21 West Virginia, winning 75-56 despite their loss against them in the Battle 4 Atlantis only weeks prior. Lewis marked a game high of 21 points. Veesaar and Awaka both secured game-highs of seven rebounds each.
On Jan. 11, the team faced the University of Central Florida, a high-level competitor despite not being ranked at the time of the game. The Wildcats ended the match 88-80, back and forth play through its entirety. Five players entered double digits in scoring for the match: Love, Dell’Orso, Veesaar, Awaka and Lewis. Love led with 16. Love also grabbed eight boards, a team-high against UCF. Bryant and Bradley followed behind with six rebounds each.
Arizona returned to face another ranked competitor, No. 25 Baylor University. The Wildcats came away from this game leading by 11, 81-70. Despite Baylor’s impressive efforts, they were never able to secure the victory. Veesaar dominated the rim with 19 points and seven boards, leading in the game in scoring and tying in rebounds. His impressive performance elevated Arizona to secure the win.
Texas Tech University snapped the Wildcats’ seven-game win streak on Jan. 18, where Arizona fell 70-54 on the road in Lubbock, Texas. With only two Wildcats scoring in double figures, coming from Bradley’s 11 points and Bryant’s 10, Arizona was not able to pull away with its eight consecutive victory.
Despite losing to the Red Raiders, the Wildcats found their way back into the win column after beating Oklahoma State University 92-78 on Jan. 21. This sparked the start of Arizona winning six consecutive games.
Arizona met against No. 3 Iowa State University, where the Wildcats hosted the Cyclones in McKale Center on Jan. 27. During the final seconds of regulation, Love nailed a beyond-half-court shot to tie the game at 71 to force overtime. The 6-foot-4 guard proceeded to make two more 3-pointers in the extra period, recording 22 points for the night in the unforgettable win.
The month of February began with the Wildcats traveling to face rival ASU in Tempe for the first meet between the two programs this season. Love put up 27 points on 5-for-9 shooting from beyond the arc. Bradley also added 14 points himself to help the Wildcats outlast the Sun Devils 81-72.
After securing two back-to-back victories over BYU and Texas Tech on Feb 4 and Feb. 8. Against the Cougars, No. 20 Arizona at the time held onto an 85-74 victory as Love and Bradley combined for 35 points. Notably, Bradley recorded 17 points just in the second half. Arizona then went to avenge its only Big 12 loss of the season, beating Texas Tech 82-73 for its sixth consecutive victory.
Arizona’s win streak was snapped by Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kan., 73-70 on Feb. 11. Kansas State’s Dug McDaniel put up a season-high 24 points to beat the Wildcats for its sixth straight win and fourth against ranked opponents. The Wildcats also dropped their next game, facing the University of Houston in McKale on Feb. 15, but succumbed to a 62-58 loss to the Cougars. Despite Arizona coming back 59-58 with a minute remaining, Houston made 3 of its 4 closing free throws to secure its 17th win in 18 games.
The Wildcats went into their final six games of the regular season, going 3-3 against their opponents before heading into Big 12 Tournament play. On the road facing Baylor University on Feb. 17, Awaka recorded his seventh double-double of the season with 14 points and 12 rebounds. This victory allowed Arizona to move into second place in the Big 12 Conference.
However, after beating BYU just two weeks before, the Cougars came into McKale looking for their fourth straight win and second over ranked opponents. Despite five Wildcats finishing the night in double figures, including 27 points from Love, it wasn’t enough as Arizona fell in a disappointing 96-95 defeat on Feb. 22. Notably, Awaka secured his second consecutive double-double, consisting of 14 points and 10 rebounds. BYU forward Richie Saunders scored 23 points, including two clutch free throws he made with 3.2 seconds left, giving BYU the victory.
The Wildcats remained home to host the University of Utah, where the program had just fired its head coach, Craig Smith. This was the Utes’ first game without him, as assistant Josh Eilert was named interim head coach. Arizona bounced back with a blowout 83-66 win on Feb. 26 with help from Love, draining six 3-pointers to aid the team. Three Wildcats had 12 points apiece including Bradley, Veesaar and Awaka, who helped Arizona handle Utah.
Beginning the month of March, Arizona traveled to Ames, Iowa, to meet the Cyclones after the Wildcats’ overtime victory at home. This time, Arizona played in the Hilton Coliseum as Iowa State prepared to put on a show, as five of their players scored in double figures for the night, including 11 made 3-pointers. Despite a second-half rally from the Wildcats to get within 9 points of the score, it wouldn’t be enough to overcome the deficit Iowa State had built, losing 84-67. Arizona struggled shooting from beyond the arc, only hitting 18.2% of its shots from deep.
ASU and Arizona met for the rivals’ final appearance against each other this season on March 13. Arizona outlasted the Sun Devils 113-100 as three Wildcats put up 20+ points. Veesaar led the team with 22 points and eight rebounds, hitting 8-of-12 of his shots for the night. Love and Lewis had 21 points apiece. Awaka and Bradley also found themselves in double figures for the evening, adding 15 and 12 points to hold off the Sun Devils’ high-scoring night. ASU guard Alston Mason scored 33 points in the game, but ASU could not find an answer to win against Arizona.
The Wildcats had their last regular-season game against the Kansas Jayhawks in Allen Fieldhouse on March 8. The Wildcats did not find a way to overcome a first-half deficit that put them in position to lose 83-76 on the road. Bradley recorded 21 points, 1 point shy of his career-high and Love added on 16 points himself.
Post-season recap:
No. 3 Arizona began its postseason awaiting to see who it will take on in the Phillips 66 Big 12 quarterfinals on March 13 in T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Mo. The Wildcats faced No. 6 Kansas once again and were able to pull away with an 88-77 victory over the Jayhawks to advance to the semifinals. Arizona limited the Jayhawks to 33.3 percent shooting from the field in the first half, forcing them to finish with 77 points for the night just after losing the previous Saturday to Kansas. Veesaar and Lewis scored 19 points apiece while Townsend had 16 to propel Arizona towards the next round of the tournament. Veesaar shot 7-for-11 from the field while Lewis also contributed four steals. Arizona’s defense held Kansas as Bryant and Lewis collected five rebounds each. Notably, Arizona outscored Kansas in the paint 46-20 in the victory.
In the semifinals of the Big 12 Tournament, Arizona faced a short-handed Texas Tech team dealing with injuries on March 14. The Wildcats found a way to hold off the Red Raiders to gain an 86-80 victory and advance to the Big 12 Championship game. Love scored 27 points on 10-of-15 shooting from the field. Lewis put up 15 points and brought down eight rebounds himself as the Wildcats worked as a team to gain the victory. Texas Tech guard Kevin Overton had 20 points while Christian Anderson scored 19, but it wasn’t enough as the Red Raiders played without two of their top-three leading scorers, Chance McMillian and Darrion Williams. Leading scorer JT Toppin played but stepped out to the arena tunnel as he felt sick, but made it through the game with 11 points in 25 minutes.
As Arizona made it past the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds of the tournament, the Wildcats found themselves preparing for the Big 12 Championship Title game against No. 1 Houston on March 15. Unfortunately, the Wildcats were met with a 72-64 defeat, closing their first Big 12 Tournament run for the first time in program history. Love led Arizona with 19 points and four rebounds while Bradley followed with 14 points. Houston held Arizona to 27.8% shooting from the 3-point line compared to the 50% made against Texas Tech. With the loss to Arizona, Houston gained its 14th consecutive victory and the Big 12 Title.
With less than a week between the Big 12 Tournament and NCAA play, Arizona waited to see where they would place in the bracket during March Madness. The Wildcats met against the No. 13 University of Akron on March 21, dismissing the team with a 93-65 first-round victory. Five Wildcats scored in double-figures, led by Bradley, who scored 19 points, including 3-for-5 from beyond the arc. Bryant secured 12 points while collecting five rebounds and three blocks. Despite 12 first-half turnovers, Arizona shot 56.5 percent from the field and held the Zips to just 33.3% from the floor to stun Akron as the Wildcats moved onto the second round.
Arizona faced the No. 5 University of Oregon on March 23, where the Wildcats held onto an 87-83 score to beat the Ducks in the final seconds of the game, reaching its third Sweet 16 appearance under head coach Tommy Lloyd. Love had his third-highest-scoring game of the season with 29 points and nine rebounds, including shooting 5-for-7 from the 3-point line. Four Wildcats scored 12 points apiece, including Dell’Orso, Bradley, Awaka and Lewis. Awaka had 14 individual rebounds, making it difficult for Oregon to gain possessions. The Wildcats shot a collective 45.5% from the field and 50% from beyond the arc. They also outscored Oregon’s bench 20-12 to move on to the Sweet 16 to face No. 1 Duke University.
On March 27 in Newark, N.J., Arizona met against Duke, whom Love once defeated in the Final Four in the final game of coach Mike Krzyzewski’s career. This time, the Blue Devils had players on ESPN’s Top 11 NBA Draft Prospects, like No. 1 projected pick Cooper Flagg, who put up 30 points in the 100-93 victory over Arizona. In Love’s final game playing in a Wildcat jersey, the fifth-year guard scored a season-high 35 points on 11-for-21 shooting from the field, including five made 3-pointers. Bradley had 15 points and Veesaar recorded 13, but it wasn’t enough to push Arizona into the next round. The Blue Devils played unselfish basketball as Kon Knueppel put up 20 points, leading second for his team, while Sion James (16 points) and Khaman Maluach (13 points) also aided Duke in the win.
Looking ahead:
As Arizona closes the season and its first chapter in the Big 12, the Wildcats have many moments to be proud of and learn from as they continue to adhere to a new conference. The team has left Wildcat fans with unforgettable memories as Love hangs his Arizona jersey to get ready for a new journey as a player. The Wildcats proved to work through adversity in multiple situations, overcoming ranked programs and allowing new additions to the team to adjust accordingly. With some departures of players stepping away from the program as well as news prospects added, Arizona looks towards a new season to work towards a bigger goal as a team.
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