The Arizona Wildcats are so good at rebounding that efficiency sometimes takes on a different meaning.
Allow San Diego State men's basketball coach Brian Dutcher to explain.
“This is the only team in the country where you actually hope they make their free throws,” Dutcher said of Arizona, looking around to see if media caught his drift after the Wildcats outrebounded San Diego State by 24 in their 68-45 win on Saturday. “How does that sound?”
A few chuckles surfaced.
“As an opposing coach, your hope is that the free throw goes in, because if they make one and miss a second, they're going to get 60% of those and get a three-point play,” Dutcher said, saying he was so entranced with the action inside that he didn't check to see if anyone was breaking away to run down the court.
“They're a dynamic rebounding team, and we knew it. Their physicality was incredible, and as long as they have that, they'll be able to compete with anybody.”
So far, Arizona hasn’t just competed with anybody. Thanks in part to the relentless rebounding of centers Tobe Awaka and Motiejus Krivas, the Wildcats have beaten everybody, and most of them badly.
On top of drilling five 200-plus rated teams at McKale Center, Arizona has beaten five teams ranked at the time the game was played plus another, San Diego State, that was among the top 26 vote-getters earlier this season. And they’ve beaten the last three of those high-level teams — Auburn, Alabama and SDSU — by an average of 24.3 points.
While doing so, their defensive efficiency and offensive rebounding have continued to rise.
Arizona, which will host Bethune-Cookman on Monday at McKale Center before taking a short Christmas break, shot a season-low 37.9% from the field Saturday against SDSU but more than made up for it by holding the Aztecs to just 26.3% shooting, by far the lowest they have held any opponent to this season … and by destroying them on the glass.
UA outrebounded SDSU 52-28, with Awaka collecting 15 rebounds in just 22 minutes off the bench while Krivas added another 13.
Their production helped UA leave the home of the Phoenix Suns with the second-most efficient defense and the fifth-best offensive rebounding percentage (42.1) in Division I, while they ranked fifth in raw rebounding margin (13.1) entering the SDSU game.
Awaka, meanwhile, leads all Division I players in offensive (24.7) and defensive (33.0) rebounding percentage, meaning that basically a quarter of his teammates' missed shots and a third of an opponents’ missed shots are enveloped in his hands.
Arizona forward Tobe Awaka (30) scores on San Diego State forward Miles Heide during the second half Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025, in Phoenix.
“I didn't know that,” Awaka said of those stats. “Honestly, it's never been something I've been focused on too much. Going into a game it might be the thing I'm thinking about least.
"I think about the defensive game plan first and foremost, how I'm going to set screens to help get our guards over and run the floor. And then at the end of the day, it's just when the shot goes up, go chase the ball. I think that's sort of the easiest thing on the court for me.”
Just go chase the ball. There’s more to it than that, isn’t there?
Like strength? Experience? Will? Intensity?
“To be to be honest with you, the only guy I could compare him with in how he impacts the game with effort and toughness is Domantas Sabonis. And he’s an NBA all-star,” UA coach Tommy Lloyd said of the former Gonzaga star he coached as a Zags assistant. “I know Tobe is putting himself on people's radars, with just the force he's playing with, and how much better he's gotten. It's crazy impressive.”
Awaka’s rebounding helped the Wildcats turn what was a defensive struggle into another comfortable victory Saturday. Leading by one at halftime and 33-31 four minutes into the second half, the Wildcats went on a 20-5 run to take control the game over the middle of the second half.
UA outrebounded SDSU 30-11 in the second half and committed just one turnover, after coughing up 10 in the first half.
"We kind of had to find our rhythm and our flow a little bit," Lloyd said. "I give San Diego State a lot of credit. They came out with a game plan where they were really forcing us to play outside-in. They were really heavy in that first gap. They were going under a lot of our ball screens.
"We really haven't faced that much conviction (in an opposing) defense, so I think it just took a while for our guys to kind of get comfortable in the game."
A technical foul against Dutcher may have helped the Wildcats do so, or at least broke the Aztecs' momentum.
Arizona was trailing 27-22 with 1:49 left in the first half when UA guard Jaden Bradley picked up a foul from the Aztecs' Sean Newman and was shooting the first of two free throws when Dutcher continued to argue the call and was whistled for a tech.
"Usually to get one, you have to swear or you have to use your arms (and create) antics to show him up," Dutcher said. "I didn't feel like I did a whole lot of any of that, so I just wanted him to tell me why he teed me up. He wouldn't even tell me that. He was off it at that point. He didn't want to talk to me."
After Dutcher's T, UA wing Anthony Dell'Orso shot two technical free throws, making the first and missing the second, before Bradley stepped back in to hit his second and cut SDSU's lead to 27-25.
Arizona guard Anthony Dell'Orso (3) shoots over San Diego State guard Miles Byrd during the second half Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025, in Phoenix.
Dell'Orso later followed with a 3-pointer with 32 seconds left in the first half to give the Arizona Wildcats a 28-27 lead at halftime.
“I told them, 'This is how I thought the game might go, and there's no reason to feel bad,'” Lloyd said of his halftime talk. “We obviously didn't play our best in the first half and you're up one. So we made a nice little run there.”
“I just really challenged our guys: What happens if we come out and hit first?"
The trick was that they didn’t hit offensively as much as in other ways. Lloyd said the Wildcats were “sticky” and effective in their ball pressure, holding the Aztecs to a lower shooting percentage than anybody they have played since Central Michigan shot just 25.9% against the Wildcats almost exactly a year earlier.
“It probably doesn’t get enough attention but we’re also a pretty good defensive team,” Lloyd said.
Lloyd also tried shining some light on Krivas, who averages 8.4 rebounds overall and 14.1 per 40 minutes, less efficient than Awaka in rebounding but more efficient offensively.
Arizona center Motiejus Krivas, center, gets fouled by San Diego State forward Pharaoh Compton (5) during the second half Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025, in Phoenix.
Krivas is shooting 63.1% from two-point range and is hitting free throws at a 72.7% rate. He managed to take only one field goal Saturday and missed it, but Lloyd said he impacted the game by collecting 13 rebounds, drawing five fouls, and helping limit the Aztecs to a puny 32.6% shooting percentage from two-point range.
“Big Mo, he was always kind of an offensive-minded player, and (our) offseason project was kind of trying to rewire him,” Lloyd said after the SDSU game. “He's just a really good player.
“So the combination of those two, man, I'm telling you what, it's pretty powerful to have on your side.”
