Arizona got an early jolt from several new faces and rode that energy past San Francisco 93-69 on Tuesday night in McKale Center at ALKEME Arena, giving fans their first real look at the 2026-27 men’s basketball team before the regular season opens.
Five-star freshman Caleb Holt looked every bit like a player ready to matter right away. He finished with 17 points, five rebounds and two assists, and his defense on USF’s guards kept showing up throughout the night. Derek Dixon, the sophomore transfer from North Carolina, logged 31 minutes and added 10 points.
For the Dons, guard Dylan Bordon carried the offense with 20 points, three rebounds and two assists.
Arizona set the tone early with Bryce James drilling a three to open the game. After redshirting the 2025-26 season, James finally got his chance in front of the McKale crowd, and the building responded when he knocked down the first basket of the night.
The Wildcats settled into a rhythm from there, moving the ball cleanly and probing inside until an opening appeared. That patience helped Motiejus Krivas score in the paint, and Dixon followed with a three on the next possession to push Arizona ahead by 10 with 14 minutes left in the half.
Defensively, Arizona made life miserable for San Francisco around the basket. The Wildcats kept the Dons out of the key and forced them into outside looks that didn’t drop.
Krivas, the 7’2″ center, was especially disruptive against USF big man Ismaila Diagne, limiting him to just two points in the first half. After a Dixon fast-break layup, Arizona stretched the lead to 15.
Krivas powered the opening half as Arizona went into the break up 52-34, with the center already posting a game-high 16 points.
The second half started with Holt at the line, where he made both free throws. He then jumped a pass for a steal and turned it into an easy breakaway layup. Not long after, Holt set up freshman Cameron Holmes for a dunk that forced USF into a timeout with Arizona up 19 and 12 minutes remaining.
San Francisco briefly found a little more room inside after the timeout, with Jaylen Hunter-Coleman finishing a layup in the paint. The Dons began to get more of their offense closer to the rim as the half wore on.
But the gap was too much to overcome. Arizona’s defense produced 19 turnovers, and the Wildcats turned those mistakes into 25 points the other way.
The loudest stretch came after a media timeout, when Krivas hammered home a dunk off an assist from Ivan Kharchenkov and Kharchenkov immediately buried a three. The McKale crowd was on its feet after that sequence.
Even with Arizona comfortably in front by 25 in the final five minutes of an exhibition, plenty of fans stayed put. The turnout said plenty about the interest around this group and the appetite to see where it goes from here.
In Other News...
Tommy Lloyds Early Arizona Decision Put Bryce James In Focus
Arizonas first exhibition of the 2026-27 season offered an early look at how Tommy Lloyd wants this group to function, and his lineup choice made the biggest noise before the game even settled in. Caleb Holt, projected as one of the top NBA Draft picks in 2027, was in the starting five and looked every bit like a focal point, while the surrounding cast gave Lloyd a chance to sort out roles with the season still ahead.
Bryce James was part of that early look, earning a start in the opener and giving Arizona another name and another storyline to track as the roster takes shape. Lloyd addressed both James and Holt after the game, explaining the thinking behind the starting decision and offering his view of Holts progress, leaving plenty to watch as the Wildcats keep building toward the real thing. [Read more 🡒]
Arizona Fans Have Every Reason To Question This Ivan Kharchenkov Omission
All four of last years Final Four teams had a major freshmen-to-sophomore presence, and that trend showed up again in Andy Katzs preseason look at the nations best returning sophomores. Three of the top spots went to familiar names from those Final Four clubs, which made it a little more surprising from an Arizona perspective that Ivan Kharchenkov was not part of the conversation at all, even after he has already shown plenty to like in the early going.
Kharchenkov is expected to be a real offensive piece for Arizona this season, and he has already given the Wildcats a glimpse of why. In the exhibition win over San Francisco, he finished with 18 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals, a line that suggests there is more here than just preseason buzz. Arizona will get another measuring stick soon enough with an exhibition against San Diego State, and Kharchenkov should have another chance to make the omission look a lot stranger. [Read more 🡒]