The Arizona Wildcats completed an undefeated non-conference schedule with a 99-71 win over South Dakota State. The Cats beat five ranked teams in November and December. As of today, Big 12 play will offer Arizona another seven opportunities against ranked opponents.1 Before we start that gauntlet, let’s look back on a couple of things from the final batch of 2025 games.
Offensive Sets
Arizona’s base offense is a flow motion set that runs through the posts. However, late in games, after timeouts, and sometimes after opponent free throws, the Cats will come out and run a more set play.
In the second half against San Diego State, the Wildcats went away from their base offense more then any other game so far this year. Here is a stretch of plays in the second half that were more of the set type offense:
Spain Pick-And-Roll (13:51, 13:37, 8:48, 8:34)
This is the first time I’ve seen Arizona use this action this year. Essentially, this is a middle ball screen that adds a third player setting a backscreen on the defender of the original screener. Spain PnR is effective because it causes some confusion for the defense on who has responsibility to contain the ball handler.
In these clips, Jaden Bradley is very good at his change of speed, getting defenders off balance in a way that has caused me to make comparisons in his game to that of Jalen Brunson. The Wildcats end up drawing three fouls on four possessions with this action.
I also liked Anthony Dell’Orso ghosting the screen in the fourth and final clip here, leaving him wide open at the three point line.
Double Drag (12:23, 9:36)
The Wildcats also used Dell’Orso as a ball screener in a double drag ball screen. In the first clip, the ball comes back to him as a second creator, but the play runs even better in the second clip with the swing to Dwayne Aristode, which triggers the weakside post, Tobe Awaka, to flare screen Dell’Orso for a three.
Double Pin Down (11:57, 10:35)
Dell’Orso also got a flare three out of this set that the Cats ran twice, which is similar to floppy or loop action. And as in the drag action, it was less effective when the ball went to Dell’Orso directly in the second clip below.
Flex (6:28)
The Wildcats regularly run Flex (screen the screener) action. This is a classic base set that holds a special place in my heart as one of the offenses my high school team ran. It has been around forever. Here’s a good explanation along with an additional explainer video.
Arizona sets their flex action up with a post ball screen and pop. On the pass back, they use zoom action to “swing” the ball, triggering a shuffle cut for the other post. The wing then would come up off that shuffle screen, where they would play two man with the post on their side.
In this clip, Ivan Kharchenkov’s screen got Tobe Awaka open on the shuffle, so no more action was needed.
UCLA Post Iso (4:08, 2:44)
And finally, with the game secure, the Cats went to a 4-high look that I had yet to seen them use before. After pindowns on each side and a point guard UCLA cut through, the pass to the ballside post along with a dive from the weakside post clear the path for an iso opportunity for Tobe Awaka (clip 1) and Koa Peat (clip 2), with a Kharchenkov improvised backdoor in the latter set.
Challenge Watch!
Coach Lloyd now 3-0 on the season overturning out of bounds calls!
Ejection
The rulebook grants officials a lot of latitude to decide what is or isn’t a technical foul but I’m going to take the unpopular position that the two technicals issued to Mabil Mawut were likely warranted.
There is no mention in the rulebook of bench personnel distracting shooters but even standing in this situation could be deemed a Class B technical foul under Rule 10, Section 4, Article 2e.
Mawut not only stands but steps along the baseline to a point that you have to question if he was in the peripheral vision of Bethune-Cookman’s Tyler Andrews.
However, Class B technicals carry a penalty of only one free throw, as opposed to Class A technicals, where two free throws are awarded. When all was said and done, four free throws were shot as a result of the two T’s, meaning both were Class A. Presumably then, this technical was based on Rule 10, Section 3, Article 2d
Bench personnel committing an unsportsmanlike act including, but not limited to…Taunting or baiting an opponent.
Perhaps that is the way that NCAA officials have been instructed to handle this situation2 but the irony is not lost on me that Andrews is clearly taunting the U of A bench as official, Michael Greenstein, walks past him to point out Mawut.
And here is the closeup of the bench and the events that resulted in the second technical foul.
It's unclear what exactly Mawut said, but you can see both Sidi Gueye and Evan Nelson react with a hand signal to urge Mawut to stop.3
Tony Padilla was the official on the baseline but it appears to be Greenstein that comes back to issue the second technical, indicating whatever Mawut said was loud enough for him to hear as he was walking towards the table to report the first foul.
Flagrants
One of the things you ask for from officials is consistency and I think they have generally done a good job on these types of fouls. Essentially the interpretation is that a player is responsible for making sure his elbows don’t hit opponents in the head.
The first play both elbows contact the opponent’s head and the foul was ruled a flagrant 1. The second play they don’t and it wasn’t.
When you have guys like Krivas and Awaka, who has two flagrant fouls of his own this year, I think you accept that you are going to get some of these.
And since we hit on Class B technical fouls earlier, one is spelled out very clearly, Rule 10, Section 4, Article 1c:
A technical foul shall be assessed to a player or a substitute for…
Knowingly attempting a free throw to which the player is not entitled4
The man you see being elbowed in the face is Quentin Heady, career 63.2% free throw shooter. But the man that went to the line and even attempted a first free throw is his brother, Jakobi Heady, career 77.8% free throw shooter.
As someone who got away with this free throw stealing tactic 10-15 times in my high school career, I appreciate the Heady brothers attempt here but trying to do so after a review seems extra ballsy. Also, if you’re going to do that, you’ve got to make the free throws.
Jakobi missed the first before officials intervened and waived off the attempt but did not penalize Jakobi.5 Quentin then stepped up and made both.
Intentional Foul
Remember when I praised the consistency in the previous section? Well, throw that out the window. The broadcast relayed that this foul was an “intentional foul”, although NCAA Men’s does not have that as a rule, so I’m guessing this was a Flagrant 1. But why?
Appreciation Section
Jaden Bradley
Bradley had a season-high 10 assists against South Dakota State including these two setups back-to-back.
Bradley is still over 50% from three on the year, now 52.4% on 1.6 attempts per game. He’s also hit two of these shot fake, side step, threes in the last week. He just keeps pulling things out of the bag.
Ivan Kharchenkov
I just enjoy watching this guy play. Enjoy his use of the ballside hand in the passing lane to create a deflection and steal.
And up 30 with 6 minutes to go, he’s picking up his man at half court, knocking the ball loose, and diving on the floor after it.
Koa Peat
Peat hit is first career three pointer in this game,6 but more importantly, just continues to physically dominate.
Dell’Orso/Burries/Aristode
Just for fun…
Baseline Out-of-Bounds (BLOB)
If you haven’t already, check out the video I recently made illustrating the BLOB plays that Arizona has run thus far this season. This is a more advanced breakdown than you get in these articles.
Here is a good look the Wildcats got vs South Dakota State in their box-pop-double set:
Next up: at Utah on Saturday, January 3rd, 2:00PM MST.
@BYU, @Kansas, Texas Tech, BYU, @Houston, Kansas, Iowa State.
Mawut and Evan Nelson sit down pretty quick after hearing the whistle.
Other than being a sad moment for Mawut, this video is pretty hilarious. I encourage you to pause it at different points and look at some of the people in the frame.
This falls in the rulebook between technical fouls for “Climbing on or lifting a teammate to secure greater height” and “Possessing or using tobacco”. This is real.
The only explanation I could see for this is that there was confusion if this was a technical foul and anyone on the team could shoot. But again, this just came from a review for a flagrant foul.
A bank. Now 1-8 for the season.