Tobe Awaka pulled down a career-high 18 rebounds while three of his Arizona teammates added 18 points each to lead the Wildcats to a 93-67 win over Utah Tech during their regular-season home opener Friday at McKale Center.
Awaka, a starter who was an honorable mention all-Big 12 pick last season, came off the bench for the second straight game behind center Motiejus Krivas. Awaka scored 12 points on 5-for-10 shooting while grabbing his 18 rebounds, eight of which came on the offensive side, while playing only 19 minutes.
Arizona forward Tobe Awaka (30) eyes the basket as he’s defended by Utah Tech forward Samuel Ariyibi (23) in the first half in Tucson on Nov. 7, 2025.
As it turned out, Awaka took some pressure off Krivas, who fouled out after just 17 minutes with six points and four fouls, and didn't complain about his role afterward.
"In my head we have eight, nine, 10 starters, you know what I mean?" Awaka said. "We have great guys on the team. We understand our roles and what the bigger picture is. We're trying to work to the best of our ability."
Arizona scored seven points off 13 offensive rebounds overall but didn’t have all that many opportunities to grab misses because the Wildcats shot 56.1% from the field. But the Wildcats scored 21 points off 14 Utah Tech turnovers and outrebounded the Trailblazers 40-30.
Wing Anthony Dell’Orso, also moved to the bench for the first two games of the season, had 18 points while hitting 3 of 5 3-pointers.
A starter and the Wildcats’ leading percentage 3-point shooter last season, Dell’Orso had been in somewhat of an early shooting slump. He shot 1 for 7 from 3-point range in UA’s Oct. 18 exhibition game against Saint Mary’s and didn’t take a 3-pointer against Embry-Riddle in the Wildcats’ second exhibition.
Then, while freshman Ivan Kharchenkov started over him in UA’s regular-season opener against Florida on Monday, Dell’Orso missed both 3s he took but collected eight points and four rebounds.
Meanwhile, freshman Brayden Burries made a personal comeback from a foul-plagued effort against Florida in his college debut Monday. Burries had 18 points while going 7-for-16 from the field, while fellow freshman Koa Peat also added 18 points after grabbing national attention with a 30-point effort against Florida in Las Vegas on Monday.
Arizona guard Brayden Burries (5) tries to grab the ball from Utah Tech guard Jusaun Holt (4) in the first half at McKale Center, Nov. 7, 2025.
In UA's 93-87 win over the Gators, Burries had scored just three points while making only 1 of 6 shots against Florida and fouling out after just 17 minutes.
As a team, the Wildcats cruised through most of Friday's game comfortably but never putting the Trailblazers completely away until the final minutes.
After taking a seven-point lead at halftime, Arizona went on a 7-0 run after halftime take a 51-37 lead, then later scored eight straight to go anead 66-48 after Jaden Bradley hit a jumper with 10:51 left. UA led comfortably the rest of the way after that point, playing walk-ons and developmental players over the final three minutes.
"I love that we were challenged, and Utah Tech gets a lot of credit," UA coach Tommy Lloyd said. "You can get greedy and want every possession to go your way, but that's just not reality. You've got to be able to ride the wave a little bit and figure out why it's working and figure out why it's not working, and make adjustments."
In the first half, Dell’Orso poured in 15 points while hitting 2 of 4 3-pointers to lead Arizona to a 44-37 halftime lead.
Peat had 10 points and three rebounds while Awaka added eight points and nine rebounds in 12 minutes off the bench before halftime.
Utah Tech built an early 9-5 lead by scoring nine straight points while UA point guard Jaden Bradley picked up two fouls, including one against 3-point shooter Chance Trujillo, who hit all three ensuing free throws.
Arizona went on to take leads of up to 16 points during the middle of the first half although the Trailblazers cut it to within single digits in the final 64 seconds. Ethan Potter hit a long jumper with 15 seconds left for the final score of the half, cutting UA’s lead to 44-37.
Arizona (2-0) will next face NAU on Tuesday before traveling to Los Angeles to face UCLA at the Intuit Dome on Nov. 13.
