After wins over rivals Northern Arizona and UCLA, Arizona earned Team of the Week from NCAA.com. Arizona beat Northern Arizona 84-49 on Tuesday and won 69-65 over UCLA at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California, on Friday.
True freshman Dwayne Aristode starred for Arizona in the win over Northern Arizona. Aristode made six of 10 shots from the field and six of nine three-point attempts with three rebounds and two assists in a season high 25 minutes.
Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd was able to limit minutes for his starters and get playing time for the entire roster in the easy win over NAU. After NAU led briefly 5-4, Arizona went on a 10-0 run and never trailed after that. Aristode was one of five Arizona players in double figures.
Arizona and UCLA battled throughout, with each team making runs. UCLA had a 15-2 run after Arizona opened the scoring on a Brayden Burries three-point shot. Arizona answered UCLA with a 10-0 run to tie the game at 15.
🏆 Weekly Awards from @TheAndyKatz 🏆
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) November 17, 2025
Team of the Week: Arizona
Player of the Week: Braden Smith
Freshman of the Week: Mikel Brown Jr. pic.twitter.com/5X0y9Bvoiq
The first half remained tight and Arizona led 28-25 at halftime. Arizona took its largest lead at 39-32 with 15:51 left in the game. UCLA answered and tied the game at 45. The Bruins led 57-49 with 7:18 remaining in the game. Arizona closed the game out with a 20-8 run for a 69-65 win.
The victory over UCLA was the second in as many weeks over a ranked team for Arizona to begin the season. Anthony Dell'Orso led Arizona with 20 points and Jaden Bradley was the closer with 13 of his 15 points in the final seven minutes.
NCAA.com college basketball writer Andy Katz has Arizona second in his power rankings that were released on Monday morning. Katz flipped Arizona with Big XII rival Houston in his power rankings. Purdue, with an 87-80 win at Alabama last week, remains first in Katz's power rankings.
Several other ranked teams had impressive wins in the last week. Connecticut, the next opponent for Arizona on Wednesday in Storrs, beat BYU on Saturday in Boston. The Arizona non-conference gauntlet continues against the Huskies. Arizona will have played the last three NCAA Tournament champions in its first five games.