Arizona star Mickayla Perdue announces the end of her college career

Arizona leading scorer Mickayla Perdue announced the end of her collegiate career on social media on Sunday. Perdue played in 15 games for Arizona in 2025-26 and averaged 17.6 points per game. Perdue has missed the last 10 Arizona games with a wrist injury.

Arizona has lost nine of its 10 games without Perdue. Perdue was the Horizon League Player of the Year at Cleveland State in 2024-25, when she led the Horizon League in scoring with 20.0 PPG and also averaged 3.3 assists per game.

Perdue had five 20-point games and two over 30 in her short tenure with Arizona. The season highs for Perdue were 34 points against Chicago State and 31 versus UC-Irvine. Arizona has struggled significantly offensively without Perdue. The Wildcats have scored more than 70 points once in the 10 games without Perdue.

Without Perdue, Arizona is 14th in the Big XII against conference opponents averaging 64.5 PPG. Perdue still leads Arizona with 36 made three-point shots and 103 attempts and is second with 257 total points despite not playing in the last 10 games.

Resilient collegiate career

After playing her first two seasons at Toledo, Perdue transferred to Division II Glenville State and then played two years at Cleveland State. Perdue was regarded as the top player for Arizona on an entirely new roster for the 2025-26 season. Before getting injured, Perdue was eighth in the Big XII in scoring.

Perdue was one of eight transfers added to the 2025-26 Arizona roster by first-year head coach Becky Burke. Noelani Cornfield, who played for Burke at Buffalo, forward Nora Francois and Perdue were the most experienced players on the 2025-26 roster.

Losing Perdue has hindered Arizona for her leadership and scoring ability. Arizona plays Colorado, Baylor, Houston and Utah in the next two weeks to finish the 2025-26 regular season. Arizona and Central Florida are currently tied for 15th out of 16 teams in the Big XII with 2-12 conference records.