Arizona will open the 2025-26 season versus defending national champion Florida at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on November 3. Arizona and Florida will play as part of a doubleheader that features BYU and Villanova in the other game. Tipoff time will be announced at a later date.
Arizona and Florida have split their four meetings. Arizona won 65-64 in Tucson on Dec. 15, 2012, and 75-71 in New York on November 9, 2001. Florida beat Arizona 78-77 in Springfield, Massachusetts on November 28, 2003 and 78-72 in overtime in Gainesville on December 7, 2011.
Gary Parrish of CBS Sports has Arizona 10th and Florida 15th in his most recently updated Top 25 And 1 rankings. Arizona signed the second-best 2025 class per the 247Sports composite rankings. Five-star freshmen Brayden Burries and Koa Peat are expected to make significant impacts in 2025-26.
Arizona received a huge boost to their 2025-26 roster with 6'10, 260-pound center Reuben Chinyelu announcing his return on Monday. Chinyelu averaged 6.6 points and 6.0 rebounds per game, shot 59.9 percent from the field and had 34 blocked shots, starting all 40 games for Florida in 2024-25.
Chinyelu and Arizona center Motiejus Krivas, who missed all but eight games during the 2024-26 season, should be an intriguing early-season matchup. Arizona returns starting forward Tobe Awaka and guards Jaden Bradley and Anthony Dell'Orso from their 2024-26 team that lost to Duke in the NCAA Tournament East semifinal.
The 2012 Arizona win over Florida was one of the most memorable in Arizona history, during one of the greatest days in the history of the Wildcats athletic program. Arizona rallied from a six-point deficit in the final minute to win on a Mark Lyons layup with seven seconds remaining.
Earlier that day, the Arizona football team scored two touchdowns in the final minute of the game to beat Nevada 49-48 in the New Mexico Bowl. Head coaches Tommy Lloyd of Arizona and Todd Golden of Florida are familiar with each other from when they coached in the West Coast Conference at Gonzaga and San Francisco.