Arizona basketball made a run to the Sweet 16 in the 2024-25 season and has now opened its 2025-26 campaign. It was an upset of Florida to open the year, led by freshman Koa Peat. Now, head coach Tommy Lloyd has his sights set on a rival, UCLA.
“There's this thorn in our side that we've got to play, in their city,” Lloyd said after the victory over Arizona, alluding to UCLA, according to Brian Pederson of SBNation.
Arizona took a 93-87 victory over Florida on Monday night. Peat put up 30 points while adding seven rebounds and five assists. Meanwhile, Jaden Bradley scored 27 points in the victory. Ivan Kharchenkov rounded out the top performers with 12 points and ten rebounds. It was the first time since 2003 that the defending champion lost its first game of the season. That year, Syracuse fell to Charlotte to open the season.
Coach Lloyd had a different focus after the game, looking ahead to a rivalry game against UCLA. The rivalry dates back to their time in the PAC-12 together, and while UCLA dominated the series early, Arizona made it competitive after Lute Olson took over. Lloyd is 6-3 against UCLA.
He lost his debut in the rivalry back in 2022, but got revenge later that season, winning in both the regular season and the PAC-12 tournament finals. UCLA would eliminate Arizona in the 2023 conference tournament. They also beat Arizona last year 57-54 in Phoenix. The Bruins lead the all-time series 64-50.
Arizona is now 1-0 on the season, and plays against Utah Tech on Friday night before a game with Northern Arizona a week from today. Meanwhile, UCLA is also 1-0 on the season after defeating Eastern Washington 80-74 on its opening night. The Bruins will play Pepperdine on Friday night before facing West Georgia next Monday. UCLA head coach Mick Cronin is 7-6 all-time against Arizona. Tip-off between the two is set for 10:00 PM EST on November 14th.
