Arizona Basketball begins preparations for 2021-22 season

With the 2021-22 Arizona Basketball season just around the corner, the Wildcats begin preparations for the upcoming year.

With the Arizona Football season in full swing, that means that Arizona Basketball is officially returning for fans that have been longing for Wildcat basketball action.

The Arizona Red-Blue game is just around the corner, and on Tuesday afternoon the Arizona Basketball team officially kicked off their preparations for the 2021-22 season with their first practice.

Coming into the year, the men’s team enters a new era of Wildcat basketball as Tommy Lloyd takes over for Sean Miller after 12 seasons.

As you may recall, Lloyd was the longtime assistant at Gonzaga that was hired by Arizona back in April, and he inherits a competitive and talented group that is still under investigation from the NCAA and the IARP.

This year, the Wildcats should have somewhat lofty expectations, after all, this is a group that returns a decent core of their talent from a team that finished 17-9 (11-9) and missed the NCAA Tournament due to a self-imposed postseason ban.

Arizona Basketball also added some key pieces in the off-season, and with practice underway, the Wildcats are getting ready for the upcoming season.

Practice started for Arizona Basketball on Tuesday afternoon, and already the team kicked things off with a bang as they broke in the transfers of Justin Kier and Oumar Ballo.

Outside of that, it was a long-anticipated return was Azuolas Tubelis and Ben Mathurin as well. Together, the two should provide significant contributions to the team, and the Wildcats’ success is largely contingent on their success as well.

Outside of that, coach Lloyd expects big things from the sophomore wing, Dalen Terry. 

Following the team’s first practice on Tuesday, coach Lloyd seemingly raved about his star wing and even challenged him to get better this off-season. And with the Wildcats’ first official game slated for November 9 against NAU at home, this team could be a surprise this season, and Terry could be a big part of that!

Watch coach Lloyd’s full Media Day!