Departing UA forward Carter Bryant officially acknowledged his departure from Arizona this week, reflecting on his one-season stint with the Wildcats in a letter he posted “to Tucson” on Instagram.
“From being an 8-year-old boy who always felt the magic of McKale as a fan, to playing in the most important games of my life thus far with Arizona on my chest, this journey has been all I could have imagined,” Bryant posted.
Carter Bryant thanked coaches and staffers while reflecting on the memories of his one-year stint with the Wildcats.
Though he played only the 2024-25 season for Arizona, Bryant had a long history with the Wildcats and coach Tommy Lloyd. From an athletic family with a father who played basketball for Long Beach State and an aunt, Shaquillah Torres, who played volleyball at UA, Bryant has said he took more visits to McKale Center as a youth than he could remember.
Shortly after Lloyd was named the Wildcats’ head coach in April 2021, when Bryant was finishing his freshman season in high school and coming off a complex leg injury, UA began recruiting him. Bryant committed to the Wildcats in April 2023, before his junior season in high school had ended.
Bryant went on to become a McDonald’s All-American as a senior at Corona (Calif.) Centennial High School in 2023-24, then joined the Wildcats as a five-star freshman last fall.
While Bryant had a limited impact early in the season as Lloyd experimented with the Wildcats’ rotation, he settled in to become a key reserve at both forward spots.
Arizona Wildcats forward Carter Bryant raises his arms with his teammates after beating Iowa State in overtime, 86-75, at McKale Center on Jan. 27, 2025.
Meanwhile, Bryant indicated he had a lot of fun hanging out with his teammates, who were known to frequently break out the game Uno during their first season traveling through the Big 12.
“To my teammates, from the hard talks, the laughs, and even the moments when I don’t think I could look at you in the eyes because I was sick and tired of hearing how bad I am at Uno... I wish I could go back and re-live each of those moments,” Bryant posted.
Bryant entered the draft in April, and his name was not on the NBA’s list after the NCAA’s May 28 deadline to withdraw, confirming his departure. He was just Arizona’s ninth-leading scorer (6.5 points per game), but he shot 38.6% from 3-point range in the Big 12 season while his prototypical size and skills for a standout NBA wing blew him into a projected lottery pick this spring.
Arizona’s Carter Bryant participates in the 2025 NBA Draft Combine in Chicago on Tuesday, May 13, 2025.
Bryant added a “special thank you” to UA managers and coaches who responded to his requests to work with him even during off-hours. Bryant added the words “GOD bless the dream chasers” to his Instagram post, which was liked by numerous former and current UA players, including incoming freshmen Brayden Burries and Koa Peat.
“Be great fam,” Peat posted.
