SEATTLE (13 News) – Arizona will face Akron Friday in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
Tip-off is set for 4:35 p.m. and the game will be on TruTV.
13 News’ Damien Alameda is in Seattle and will be covering the Wildcats’ run in the Big Dance.
Former NBA player Roy Hibbert said everyone, especially the Wildcats, needs to keep an eye on Akron’s Nate Johnson.
Below are some notes from Arizona Athletics.
STARTING FIVE
1) In its first season in the Big 12 Conference, Arizona finished in third place at 14-6 during the regular season. The Wildcats then advanced to the championship game of the Big 12 Tournament before falling to top-seeded Houston 72-64.
2) This is Arizona’s 39th appearance in the NCAA Tournament, and the fourth in four seasons under head coach Tommy Lloyd. The Wildcats are 4-3 in the tournament under Lloyd, with a pair of Sweet 16 appearances.
3) Fifth-year senior Caleb Love earned First Team All-Big 12 honors while Henri Veesaar and Tobe Awaka garnered honorable mention accolades.
4) Head coach Tommy Lloyd’s 110 wins in his first four seasons are the third-most in NCAA history by a power conference head coach. His next win would move him into a tie for second place with Shaka Smart from his time at VCU. Brad Stevens (Butler) tops the list with 117 wins.
5) Arizona has played 21 Quad 1 games (10-11 record) this season, tied with Kentucky (11-10) and Auburn (16-5) for the most in the country.
SERIES HISTORY
• This will be the first meeting between the two programs.
• Arizona is 5-5 all-time against Mid-American Conference opponents
HISTORY IN SEATTLE
• Arizona is 2-1 in NCAA Tournament games played in Seattle (1988, 1991).
• The Wildcats were a No. 1 seed in 1988 and defeated No. 5 seed Iowa, 99-79, in the regional semifinal and then topped No. 2 seed North Carolina, 70-52, to advance to the first Final Four in school history.
• In 1991, Arizona was a No. 2 seed and lost to No. 3 seed Seton Hall, 81-77, in the Sweet 16.
NOTING THE WILDCATS
• As a team, Arizona is shooting 78.4% from the free throw line this season (15th in NCAA). It is just shy of the U of A single-season record of 78.6% set during the 2003-04 season.
• According to KenPom, Arizona played the fourth-most difficult schedule in the country.
• The Wildcats have received a top four seed in their region every year under Lloyd.
• Caleb Love is one of five finalists for the Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award and was on the Big 12 All-Tournament Team. In three games at the Big 12 Tournament, he averaged 19.0 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.7 assists while shooting 38% from the 3-point line.
• KJ Lewis came off the bench in all three games of the Big 12 Tournament and averaged 15.0 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.3 assists. Lewis was also 14 of 17 from the free-throw line. After averaging 6.1 points last year as a freshman, he increased that to 10.9 ppg this season.
• Point guard Jaden Bradley was 3 of 6 from the 3-point line in the Big 12 Tournament. Prior to the tournament, his last made 3FG was on Feb. 8 against Texas Tech (0-13). Bradley leads Arizona with 60 steals, the most by a Wildcat since TJ McConnell (83) in 2014-15.
• Bradley (125), Love (118) and Lewis (100) make Arizona the only team in the country to have three players record 100 or more assists in each of the last four years.
• Redshirt sophomore Henri Veesaar leads Arizona in total plus-minus (+295). In Big 12 games, the Estonian is shooting 38.7% (12-31) from behind the 3-point line. While averaging 20 minutes per game for the season, he leads the Wildcats in blocked shots (39). He scored a career-high 22 points and added eight rebounds and four blocks against Arizona State.
• Under Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd, the Wildcats are 20-12 against AP Top 25 teams. That .625 winning percentage ranks THIRD in the country. (min. 30 games played).
• Under Lloyd, Arizona is 50-26 (.658) in all games away from home since the start of the 2021-22 season. That winning percentage ranks 10th in the country and fifth among power conference teams, trailing Houston (.805), Duke (.711), UConn (.688) and Purdue (.684).
• Arizona has registered a 10-0 run or better 22 times through 32 games this season. On the flip side, the Wildcats have allowed a 10-0 run just six times. (source: EvanMiya.com)
• Freshman Carter Bryant shot 38.6% (22-57) from the 3-point line and 50.5% from the floor in Big 12 play. Bryant has 30 total blocked shots this season, good for eighth place in a single-season by a freshman in Arizona history.
ELITE FRESHMEN DOING IT ALL
Below is a list of true freshmen who have 100 rebounds, 30 assists, 25 blocked shots and 25 steals this season:
Carter Bryant – ArizonaCooper Flagg – DukeDerik Queen – MarylandKam Williams – TulaneAce Bailey – RutgersThomas Sorber – Georgetown
• Tobe Awaka is averaging a team-high 7.8 rebounds per game this season, a total that ranks sixth among all Big 12 players. He leads the team by shooting 63.5% from the floor this season and has eight double-doubles to his credit. According to KenPom, Awaka is the fourth-best offensive rebounder in the country.
• Anthony Dell’Orso had his season-high scoring output on Jan. 25 against Colorado when he went off for 20 points on 6 of 9 from the 3-point line as the Buffs deployed a zone defense for a majority of the game. In the 12 games since, he is 9 of 36 (25.0%) from the 3-point line. In two seasons at Campbell before transferring to Arizona, he scored 1,049 points and averaged 19.5 points per game during the 2023-24 season.
• Fifth year senior Trey Townsend had 16 points against Kansas in the Big 12 Tournament on March 13. It marked his highest scoring game since a 19-point effort at Oklahoma State on Jan. 21. Over the last 11 games, Townsend is 7 of 14 from the 3-point line. In 161 career games, Townsend has scored 2,078 points (12.9 ppg).
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