Tommy Lloyd got a useful look at his Arizona roster over three home exhibition games, and the early read is pretty clear: the Wildcats have real answers in some spots, a budding star in another, and one major piece still waiting in legal limbo.
Arizona beat San Francisco, San Diego State and Eastern Washington over the last two weeks, giving a new-look group time to settle in before the 2026-27 college basketball season begins on Monday, Nov. 2. Even with Clemson transfer RJ Godfrey sidelined, the Wildcats showed enough in those games to look like a team with deep March potential.
The cleanest takeaway might be the backcourt. Arizona brought in sophomore transfers Derek Dixon from North Carolina and JJ Mandaquit from Washington, and there was plenty of curiosity about how the two would handle lead-guard duties in Lloyd’s offense.
The answer: fairly well, and often together. The pair shared the floor a lot, and that helped Arizona make smart decisions, push the tempo when needed and create better spacing for Mo Krivas and Ivan Kharchenkov near the basket.
That is a pretty encouraging development for a team that needed clarity at point guard. Dixon and Mandaquit don’t look like Jaden Bradley 2.0, but they do give Arizona a strong foundation - and, as the exhibition games showed, a lineup combination with a real ceiling.
The other big positive was Caleb Holt. Arizona’s latest five-star freshman, a physical 6-foot-5 guard, is viewed as a top-five pick in the 2027 NBA draft, and he looked every bit the part.
Holt defended well on the ball, ran the floor in transition and stirred up problems for opponents, but he also showed more polish inside the offense than you might expect from a freshman with his profile. He picked spots to attack, took his chances when they were there and otherwise let the game come to him.
After the San Diego State game, Lloyd made clear he wants to give Holt room to grow without over-scripting everything. "I’m just excited to kind of help him on the journey, but I definitely don’t want to put the shackles on this guy or make him a robot, because I think he’s a guy that has to kind of be turned loose a little bit," Lloyd said. "Yeah, there’s probably going to be a few head scratching plays, but there might also be some head scratching plays in a positive direction as well.”
That mix of defensive disruption and offensive upside makes Holt one of the most important players on the roster if Arizona is going to hit its highest gear in 2026-27.
The one real concern sits at power forward, and that has everything to do with Godfrey’s status. He missed all three exhibition games while his eligibility remains tied up in court.
The Clemson transfer is exactly the sort of rugged, efficient big Lloyd usually loves: strong on the boards, effective around the rim and willing to handle the gritty work. If he gets cleared, Arizona’s frontcourt balance changes fast.
For now, the Wildcats are leaning toward moving Kharchenkov up to the four, with Cameron Holmes, Bryce James and the Dixon-Mandaquit two-guard alignment as possible answers at the three. Kharchenkov can handle the shift, but it is not ideal. And while the younger bigs flashed here and there, none looked ready to lock down a major starting job in Tucson just yet.
Maxsim Brnovic stood out most among that group, bringing defense and floor spacing, though foul trouble remains a concern. Ugnius Jarusevicius showed some promising moments, and Evan Otten played well against Eastern Washington, but the overall read is that they fit better as depth pieces than as 25-minute starters.
Godfrey’s case remains unsettled, with a hearing scheduled for late January. His lawyers are hoping the current stay gets reversed by the Georgia Supreme Court, which would make him eligible before that hearing arrives.
Arizona opens the season Monday, Nov. 2 against UCLA at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Tipoff is set for 7:00 PM PT, and the game will air on HBO MAX.
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