TEMPE, Ariz. - The Arizona Wildcats and the Arizona State Sun Devils will renew their rivalry one final time during the regular season as members of the Pac-12 on Wednesday at Desert Financial Arena. Just 11 days ago, Arizona handed ASU a 105-60 loss in Tucson.
The game will be televsied on the Pac-12 Network with Ted Robinson and Bill Walton on the call starting at 8:00 p.m. MST.
WATCH: Coach Lloyd joins Scott Van Pelt on SportsCenter
STARTING FIVE
1) Senior Oumar Ballo has posted SEVEN consecutive double-doubles, something no Arizona player has done Al Fleming had 10 straight during the 1974-75 season. He needs 14 rebounds to become the 13th player in Arizona history with 1,000 points & 750 rebounds.
2) With Saturday's win over Washington, Arizona still has not lost back-to-back games since Tommy Lloyd took over as head coach in 2021-22. The Wildcats are 17-0 following a loss.
3) Senior All-American candidate Caleb Love scored 28 points vs. UW on Saturday to become the 23rd active player with 2,000 career points. A leading candidate for Pac-12 Player of the Year, Love is second in the conference in scoring (21.4), first in 3FG made/game (3.1), seventh in FT% (84.7%) and 10th in assist/turnover ratio (1.6) in Pac-12 play.
4) Keshad Johnson needs 28 points to reach 1,000 for his career (SDSU + Arizona).
5) Tonight is head coach Tommy Lloyd's 100th game as head coach. His 82 wins are the most wins in the first 3 seasons as head coach at a major conference school.
SERIES VS. ARIZONA STATE
• Arizona leads the all-time series against Washington, 160-86.
• The Wildcats 105-60 win earlier this season was the largest margin of victory in the series
NOTING THE WILDCATS
• Lloyd is the first coach in Arizona history and the seventh in the history of the Pac-12 to win 20 or more games in each of his first three seasons.
• Senior wing Pelle Larsson is one of the most improved players in the Pac-12, increasing scoring average from 9.9 last year to 13.0 this season. He's shooting a career-best 42.4% from the 3-point line (35.6% last year) and a career-high 54.8% overall from the floor.
• Arizona is averaging 90.1 points per game, second-most in the country (Alabama - 91.1)
• The Wildcats have grabbed 10+ offensive rebounds in 23 of 27 games, including each of the last 12 games.
• Arizona ranks second in the country in total rebounds/game (43.4) and third in the country in rebound margin at +11.1 per game.
• Arizona is one of four teams in the country to have the same starting lineup for every game this season (Purdue, Wisconsin, Princeton).
• Love was also named to the Naismith Trophy and Wooden Award Midseason Watch Lists and is one of 10 players still in the running for the Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year award.
• Keshad Johnson is one of 10 players named to the Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year Award late season watch list. He's averaging 11.6 points, 5.9 rebounds and shooting a career-best 36.4% from the 3-point line. He is 28 points away from reaching 1,000 for his career at San Diego State and Arizona combined.
• Johnson has scored in double figures 18 out of 28 games this season at Arizona. In his four seasons, and 113 games at San Diego State, he scored in double figures 25 times. He has set single-game career highs in points, assists, steals, blocks, FGM, FGA, 3FGM, 3FGA this season with the Wildcats. Against Washington, he scored 16 points and matched his career-high with 3 blocks.
• Sophomore Kylan Boswell is averaging 10.5 points and 3.5 assists over the last 8 games. For comparison, in seven games during the month of January, Boswell averaged 7.6 points, 2.9 assists.
• Sophomore Jaden Bradley has 29 assists and seven turnovers to go with 16 steals over the last 13 games. He recently scored 14 points at Colorado and followed it up with a career-high 21 points against Arizona State.
• Freshman guard KJ Lewis posted a season high 14 points against Cal on Feb. 1 while adding four rebounds and three assists. He added 12 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists against Stanford. He has 53 assists and just 22 turnovers this year. He has scored a total of seven points over the last four games.
• Motiejus Krivas is averaging 5.8 points, 4.7 rebounds and is 22 of 26 at the free throw line in Pac-12 play. He had 18 points at Cal and 15 points against Colorado on Jan. 4. Krivas ranks 10th in the Pac-12 averaging 1.94 offensive rebounds per conference game.
• Tommy Lloyd is 46-3 at McKale Center as the head coach of Arizona (14-1 this year).
• Arizona has 233 steals this season, marking the third straight season with 200+ steals. The last time Arizona did that in three seasons in a row was 2013-15. To reach the top 10 in Arizona single-season steals, the Wildcats would need to get to 275.
• The Arizona offense has posted a 10-0 run 26 times this season, the second-most in the country. Conversely, the Arizona defense has surrendered just seven runs of 10-0 or better, per EvanMiya.com.
• The Wildcats have been ranked 54 straight weeks and 54 out of 55 weeks under head coach Tommy Lloyd. They have been in Top 10 for 43 weeks and in the Top 5 for 23 weeks.
• Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd is in his third season with the Wildcats and has a record of 82-16, the fourth-most wins of any team in the country over that span.
• Under Lloyd, Arizona has recorded 20+ assists in 51 out of 99 games to lead the nation.
• The 2023-24 season marks the 119th year of men's basketball for the University of Arizona, and the Wildcats have an all-time record of 1,883-983.
HIGHEST EVER GPA
For the Fall 2023 semester, the Arizona men's basketball team posted a team GPA of 3.159. It's the highest semester GPA for men's basketball on record.
SCORING ON THE ROAD
Top scorers in Pac-12 road games through games played on Feb. 25:
1) Caleb Love (ARIZ) 24.3 ppg
2) Jaylon Tyson (CAL) 19.7
3) Keion Brooks Jr. (UW) 19.1
4) KJ Simpson (COLO) 18.1
5) Jordan Pope (OSU) 17.6
SENIOR SCORING
Four different seniors on the Arizona team are averaging 11.0 points or more this season. The Wildcats are the only team in the country that can make that claim as of Feb. 26 according to ESPN StatsInfo.
LAST TIME VS. ASU
On Feb. 17, Arizona defeated Arizona State in Tucson by a score of 105-60. In the 246-game history between the two schools, it was the largest margin of victory.
BACK-TO-BACK 25+
Caleb Love scored 27 points vs. Washington State on Feb. 22 and followed it up with 28 points vs. Washington on Feb. 28. It marked the first time in his career that he scored 25 or more points in consecutive games.
SHARING THE WEALTH
The Wildcats have had five players score in double figures 14 times this season. That's the second-most of any team in the country, trailing only Gonzaga.
45-POINT WINS
Arizona defeated Colorado by 47 points earlier this season and then defeated Arizona State by 45 points. Over the last 27 seasons of college basketball, the Wildcats are just the fifth team that has multiple wins by 45 or more points over another major conference schools.
Kansas (1997-98)
Duke (1998-99)
Alabama (2022-23)
Arizona (2023-24)
