Stacking up this year's Arizona men's hoops team vs 2013-14 class en route to 21-0 starts

When Arizona men's basketball’s first school-record 21-0 start finally ended, on a February 2014 night at California’s Haas Pavilion, then-coach Sean Miller verbally shrugged his shoulders.

“I don’t think any of us thought we’d be 40-0,” Miller said. “It was eerily similar to some of our wins.”

As it turned out, the 60-58 score wasn’t the most important loss of the evening for the Wildcats anyway. Just two minutes into that game in his East Bay homeland, forward Brandon Ashley suffered a broken foot that arguably torpedoed the Wildcats’ national championship hopes.

Already using just seven players in key situations that season, the Wildcats were not only shorthanded without Ashley but more predictable for opposing defenses, without the athletic Ashley able to play both forward and center. They lost to Wisconsin in an overtime Elite Eight game that season, just short of the Final Four.

But when Ashley was in the lineup for that 21-0 start, the 2013-14 Wildcats displayed some parallels to this season’s Wildcats, who matched the school-best start with a win at BYU on Monday. UA can break the record on Saturday with a victory at ASU.

Miller and current coach Tommy Lloyd are vastly different in coaching philosophies and personalities, but their 21-0 teams both featured stubborn defense, with 7-footers in the middle, veteran point guard play, frontcourt versatility, overall balance — and an aversion to shooting lots of 3 pointers.

Here’s a look comparing the Wildcats’ two best starts in program history:

ROTATIONS

2013-14

Starters

PG TJ McConnell, 6-1 junior (8.4 ppg, 5.3 apg)

SG Nick Johnson, 6-3 junior (16.3 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 2.8 apg)

SF Brandon Ashley, 6-8 sophomore (11.5 ppg, 5.8 rpg)

PF Aaron Gordon, 6-9 freshman (12.4 ppg, 8.0 rpg)

C Kaleb Tarczewski, 7-0 sophomore (9.9 ppg, 6.3 rpg)

Key reserves

G Gabe York, 6-3 sophomore (6.7 ppg, 2.2 rpg)

F Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, 6-7 freshman (9.1 ppg, 5.7 rpg)

G Jordin Mayes, 6-3 senior (1.3 ppg)

2025-26

Starters

PG Jaden Bradley, 6-3 senior (14.0 ppg, 4.4 apg)

SG Brayden Burries, 6-4 freshman (15.2 ppg, 4.4 rpg)

SF Ivan Kharchenkov, 6-7 freshman (9.4 ppg, 3.3 rpg)

PF Koa Peat, 6-8 freshman (14.5 ppg, 5.8 rpg)

C Motiejus Krivas, 7-2 junior (10.9 ppg, 8.5 rpg)

Key reserves

C Tobe Awaka, 6-8 senior (10.1 ppg, 9.7 rpg)

F Anthony Dell’Orso, 6-6 senior (8.4 ppg, 1.9 rpg)

F Dwayne Aristode, 6-8 freshman (5.0 ppg, 2.0 rpg)

ROAD TO 21-0

Nonconference schedule strength

2013-14: 113

2025-26: 107

Biggest nonconference wins

2013-14: at San Diego State, vs. Duke in New York, at Michigan

2025-26: vs. Florida in Las Vegas, at UConn, vs. Alabama in Birmingham

Biggest early conference wins

2013-14: at UCLA, at Stanford

2025-26: at TCU, at UCF, at BYU

Close calls

2013-14: 72-70 at Michigan, 60-57 at Stanford

2025-26: 71-67 at UConn, 86-85 at BYU

NOTABLES

Floor leaders

2013-14: McConnell (3-1 assist-turnover ratio)

2025-26: Bradley (2.1 assist-turnover ratio and clutch scoring)

Marksmen

2013-14: York (38.5% 3FG)

2025-26: Burries (37.2% 3FG)

Future lottery pick

2013-14: Gordon (4th overall, 2014)

2025-26: Peat (14th in ESPN projection)

Other NBA picks

2013-14: Johnson (42nd, 2014), Hollis-Jefferson (23rd overall, 2015)

2025-26: Burries, Krivas, Bradley (projected by ESPN, NBADraft.net)

Sacrificers

2013-14: Hollis-Jefferson (NBA pick playing off bench)

2025-26: Awaka (honorable mention all-Big 12 in 2024-25 moves to bench)

DEFINING STATS

(from Kenpom.com)

Adjusted tempo ranking

2013-14: 272

2025-26: 26

Average height (weighed by playing time)

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2013-14: 6-5.8

2025-26: 6-7.0

Average seasons of D-I experience (weighed by playing time)

2013-14: 1.51

2025-26: 1.54

OFFENSIVE STATS

Efficiency

(points scored per 100 possessions)

2013-14: 116.5 (20) 

2025-26: 126.9 (4)

Neither team shot a lot of 3s, but this season’s Wildcats are better inside.

3-point shooting percentage

2013-14: 36.4 (83)

2025-26: 36.3 (55)

Gabe York (38.5%) and Nick Johnson (36.7) took the most 3s in 2013-14 while Brayden Burries (37.2) and Anthony Dell’Orso (29.3) are doing so this season.

Two-point shooting percentage

2013-14: 50.7 (80)

2025-26: 57.4 (35)

Five Wildcats (Burries, Peat, Awaka, Kharchenkov and Krivas) are all shooting 59% or better inside the arc.

Free-throw shooting percentage

2013-14: 65.9 (305)

2025-26: 73.8 (132)

Gordon (42.2) couldn’t take much advantage of his 4.7 average trips to the line per game.

Ratio of 3-point attempts to overall field goals attempts

2013-14: 26.4 (324)

2025-26: 27.4 (363)

Why shoot a ton of 3s when you can feed big men or have wings drive the ball inside at an efficient rate?

Percentage of field goals set up by assists

2013-14: 57.6 (48)

2025-26: 57.5 (70)

Tommy Lloyd’s first two UA teams ranked in the top five of this pass-happy stat.

Offensive rebounding percentage

2013-14: 36.4 (27)

2025-26: 39.4 (8)

Awaka grabs 22.5% of Arizona’s missed shots when he’s on the floor, leading all of Division I in offensive rebounding percentage, while Gordon and Hollis-Jefferson led the 2013-14 team at 10.4% each.

DEFENSIVE STATS

Efficiency

(points allowed per 100 possessions)

2013-14: 86.4 (1)

2025-26: 90.7 (3)

Now at Texas, where the Longhorns currently rank ninth in this category, Miller is known for defense, but Lloyd’s teams have always ranked in the top 40.

Two-point percentage defense

2013-14: 40.2 (2)

2025-26: 43.6 (4)

Miller’s sagging man-to-man “pack line” and Lloyd’s aggressive and physical scheme both can clog gaps and limit easy buckets for opponents.

Block percentage

(Percentage of opponent two-pointers blocked)

2013-14: 11.5 (87)

2025-26: 11.4 (86)

Krivas ranks 75th nationally by blocking 7.5% of opponents’ two-pointers when he’s on the floor, while the 2013-14 Wildcats did it more by committee.

Steal percentage

2013-14: 9.0 (163)

2025-26: 11.6 (56)

Bradley and Kharchenkov both steal the ball on 3.5% of opponents’ possessions, while McConnell led a 2013-14 team that didn’t gamble defensively with a 3.4 steal percentage.

Defensive rebounding percentage

2013-14: 72.7 (13)

2025-26: 74.7 (30)

The rugged Tarczewski (16.9%) and the athletic Gordon (19.3%) limited opponents’ second chances.

THE FINISH

2013-14

Arizona lost two more times in Pac-12 play, including a double-overtime loss at ASU, and won the Pac-12 regular-season title. Although the Wildcats lost to UCLA in the Pac-12 Tournament final, they still received a No. 1 NCAA Tournament seed and beat Weber State, Gonzaga and San Diego State before running into Wisconsin in the NCAA West Region final.

2025-26

For the second straight season, the Wildcats have a backloaded Big 12 schedule that includes games at Kansas and at Houston, while Iowa State, Kansas and Texas Tech have yet to make their visits to McKale Center. But as of now, the Wildcats are No. 1 in NET ratings and Kenpom, on track for a No. 1 overall NCAA Tournament seed and preferential path through California (San Diego and San Jose) to the Final Four.