The 2025-26 Arizona basketball season has gotten off to an incredible start. The Wildcats are 19-0 and have looked dominant this season, earning their No. 1 ranking. They are coming off a big 26-point win over Cincinnati, 77-51 at home. However, one big issue Arizona is dealing with is that one of its best shooters, Anthony Dell'Orso, has been struggling over the last few games, and they will need him moving forward.
Following the game, Arizona basketball head coach Tommy Lloyd gave some words of encouragement to Dell'Orso after his rough stretch. In the postgame press conference, Lloyd said he told him, “Hang with it. Hang with it. What you do is really hard. Hang with it.”
Lloyd's advice makes the most sense for Dell'Orso because he is primarily a shooter, and the only way to get out of a slump is to keep shooting. There is also a difference in his role this year compared to last year because he started 28 games for the Wildcats, whereas this season he primarily comes off the bench.
Dell’Orso averaged 7.2 points per game on 45 percent shooting from the floor and 41 percent from three-point territory last season. This year, he’s averaging more points at 9.1, but on worse efficiency, shooting under 40 percent from the field, and just 30 percent from three-point range.
The reason for Dell’Orso’s demotion to the bench has to do with the emergence of freshmen forwards Ivan Kharchenkov and Koa Peat. Kharchenkov is averaging 9.5 points per game while shooting over 50 percent from the floor, and Peat has been one of the best freshmen in the country, averaging a team-high 14.6 points to go along with 5.8 rebounds per game while shooting over 56 percent from the field.
After starting the season with five double-digit performances in the first 10 games, Dell’Orso has scored in double figures just once in his past eight games. The last time Dell'Orso was a difference-maker was against TCU, when he scored 17 points and made three three-pointers. Since then, he has gone 0-14 combined against Arizona State, UCF, and Cincinnati. He still has many opportunities coming up, and they need him as the schedule only gets harder.
