2022-23 YEAR IN REVIEW | MBB SEASON Looking back on the Arizona men’s basketball season

BY RYAN WOHL @ryan__wohl

Year two of the Tommy Lloyd era was quite the roller coaster. It felt like it had some of the highest of highs and lowest of lows in years. In a year that saw Lloyd and the Arizona men’s basketball team lose three players in Bennedict Mathurin, Dalen Terry and

Christian Koloko in the previous summer to the NBA Draft, they still figured out a way to not only get back on track but stay at the top of the mountain of college basketball and the Pac-12 Conference.

Azuolas Tubelis led Arizona to winning 28 games in the regular season while also winning its second straight Pac-12

Tournament championship in Las Vegas. Tubelis was also on the Pac-12 first team and named an All-American.

Five days after leaving Las Vegas, a nightmare became a reality. No. 2 seed Arizona lost to No. 15 seed Princeton University in the Round of 64 of the 2023 NCAA Tournament. The Tigers defeated the Wildcats 59-55 in that game.

This was the last stand for the first version of Lloyd’s Wildcats’ Sweet Sixteen team two years ago. As previously mentioned, Mathurin, Terry and Koloko went to the NBA, Justin Kier is in the G-League and now the final two big pieces Tubelis and Kerr Kriisa are gone. Tubelis recently announced that he will enter the 2023 NBA Draft while Kriisa transferred to West Virginia University. That team will go down as an all-time great ‘what ifs’ for the Arizona basketball program.

It might be hard to reflect on a year full of positives but the last image of the season was the Wildcats losing in the first round of March Madness. Although the end was filled with negatives, Arizona had a great season in the second year of the Tommy Lloyd era.

The Wildcats finished season as No. 8 in the final AP Poll and won the Pac-12 Tournament championship while having an All-American on the team in Tubelis.

Lloyd surpassed former University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill head coach Bill Guthridge for most wins in their first two seasons with 61.

When Lloyd came to Tucson, Wildcat fans hadn’t seen their team in March Madness in the previous three years. In the past two seasons Lloyd took Arizona to a Sweet Sixteen while making the tournament in both seasons.

Lloyd established a new and improved foundation for Arizona basketball to succeed for the foreseeable future.

Former five-star recruit Kylan Boswell will be the new starting point guard the next time the Wildcats see action. In 15.3 minutes per game this season, Boswell averaged 4.6 points, 1.6 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game on 45% shooting from the field and 39% on 3-point shots.

Although he did not put up outstanding numbers, Boswell showed superstar potential and proved he can be the next great point guard at Arizona next season.

Oumar Ballo had a breakout season for the Wildcats and will be back next season. He averaged 14.2 points and 8.6 rebounds per game while blocking 1.3 shots per game. With Tubelis gone, Ballo’s offensive opportunities should increase.

Arizona big men Dylan Anderson and Henri Veesaar will likely see bigger roles next season after showing promise in limited minutes this season.

Pelle Larsson will return for his third season at Arizona after being a key piece of the 2022-23 team. He averaged 9.9 points and 4.3 rebounds on 35.6 shooting from deep per game. In his final season in college basketball, a big offensive jump is on the horizon.

Talented four-star forward KJ Lewis will be joining the Wildcats next year as well as five-star recruit Carter Bryant. As of April 27, they are the only Arizona commits for their 2023 class so far.

Arizona also recruited Jamari Phillips for its 2024 class. Phillips is a four-star shooting guard from Chandler, Arizona.