No. 2 Arizona (28-2, 15-2) at Colorado (17-13, 7-10) | CU Events Center, Boulder, Colo. | 9 p.m. | ESPN2 | 1290-AM
Probable starters
ARIZONA
0 G Jaden Bradley (6-3 senior)
5 G Brayden Burries (6-4 freshman)
18 F Ivan Kharchenkov (6-7 freshman)
10 F Koa Peat (6-8 freshman)
13 C Motiejus Krivas (7-2 junior)
Key reserves
30 F Tobe Awaka (6-8 senior)
3 F Anthony Dell’Orso (6-6 senior)
2 F Dwayne Aristode (6-8 freshman)
COLORADO
24 G Barrington Hargress (6-1 junior)
2 G Isaiah Johnson (6-1 freshman)
5 F Josiah Sanders (6-5 freshman)
11 F Jalin Holland (6-5 freshman)
8 C Bangot Dak (7-0 junior)
Key reserves
0 F Ian Inman (6-6 freshman)
50 C Elijah Malone (6-10 senior)
3 F Alon Michaeli (6-9 freshman)
How they match up
The series: Arizona leads 27-16 overall and has won five straight, but has only played the Buffaloes once since the two schools moved over to the Big 12 before last season. In that game, Anthony Dell’Orso hit 6 of 9 3-pointers to lead the Wildcats to a 78-63 win on Jan. 25 last season at McKale Center. The Buffaloes are 1-1 against UA in Boulder in the Tommy Lloyd era, beating the Wildcats 79-63 in 2021-22 and losing to Arizona 99-79 in 2023-24.
Colorado overview: Tied for 11th place with ASU entering the weekend, the Buffaloes are modestly outpacing expectations this season. After losing four starters from a team that finished in last place with a 3-17 conference record last season, CU has won five of its last nine Big 12 games.
As usual, the Buffaloes are much more competitive in their mile-high home of Boulder, where they have a 5-3 conference record and have not lost by double digits. Colorado beat Utah, TCU, ASU, Oklahoma State and Kansas State at home while losing 73-71 to Texas Tech, 75-69 to Kansas and 95-86 to UCF.
The Buffs are also coming off only their second away win of the conference season, having beaten Utah 92-78 without center Sebastian Rancik playing because of an injury. Colorado coach Tad Boyle told Buffzone.com that Rancik will probably not be able to play against Arizona, either.
Overall, the Buffaloes haven’t been the rugged defensive team that Boyle has had over the years, ranking just 112th in defensive efficiency, and allowing opponents to shoot 51.2% from two-point range. They are also a mediocre rebounding team, ranking 225th in offensive rebounding percentage and 136th in defensive rebounding percentage. But offensively, the Buffs rank 54th in overall efficiency, taking care of the ball (turning it over on only 14.7% of possessions) and shooting 35.5% from 3-point range.
The Buffaloes’ backcourt has led the way this season with UC Riverside transfer Barrington Hargress and freshman Isaiah Johnson. Johnson is an efficient scorer who shoots 3s at a 37.6% rate but also can get to the basket. He shoots 58.5% from two-point range and draws 5.8 fouls per 40 minutes, then hits free throws at an 81.8% rate when he gets to the line. Hargress averages only 3.2 attempts per game from 3-point range but hits them at a 50.5% rate while also posting a 3.5-1 assist turnover ratio.
Inside, Bangot Dak ranks 106th nationally with a block percentage of 6.5, while Rancik is a scorer from all levels who has also made 86.0% of his free throws.
He said it: “They've done a really good job this year of rebuilding a roster that has a lot of potential for the future. The future could be tough for us on Saturday. That's a team, if it can stay together for another year or two, that could be really, really dangerous and a team that's probably playing in the upper half of the Big 12. So we're gonna have our hands full. They have two really good guards that are playing really well. They’ve got some length at a lot of positions inside, so it's gonna be a battle. And listen, I know how it is to play there.” — UA coach Tommy Lloyd, on his weekly radio show
Key players
COLORADO
Isaiah Johnson
Colorado guard Isaiah Johnson drives up court during the first half against Iowa State, Jan. 29, 2026, in Ames, Iowa.
Known for developing undersized guards such as Askia Booker, KJ Simpson and McKinley Wright, Boyle this season has had success turning to Hargress and Johnson, a lightly regarded three-star recruit out of Southern California.
ARIZONA
Anthony Dell’Orso
Arizona guard Anthony Dell'Orso (3) looks to his bench after dropping in a long three against Kansas in the early going of the second half of their Big 12 game in Tucson on Feb. 28, 2026.
In a late-season groove that was slowed only slightly by a foot/ankle injury he suffered two weeks ago at Houston, the Aussie wing now gets to face the team he made a career-high six 3-pointers (on nine tries) against last season at McKale Center.
Sidelines
Tough blow for Holmes
Having said he hoped to lead Goodyear Millennium to the Arizona Open Division title this season — and sensing opportunity because Koa Peat has graduated from Gilbert Perry — UA signee Cameron Holmes ended his high school career on a rough note.
Holmes and the second-seeded Tigers were upset in the Open Division semifinal on Wednesday when Phoenix St. Mary’s point guard Mick Riordan caught an inbounds pass with 1.5 seconds left and hit a 28-footer from the right wing just before time expired to give St. Mary's a 66-64 win.
“It was surreal,” Riordan told the Arizona Republic.
The Republic reported that Riordan was left open because Holmes and five-star UA target Adan Diggs were bracketing St. Mary’s star big man Cameron Williams, who has signed with Duke. It reported that Holmes was “sobbing uncontrollably as teammates and coaches tried to console him.”
UA's Lloyd said he and assistant coach T.J. Benson were there watching the game, but that he didn’t want to bother Holmes afterward.
“I wanted to give Cam a little space,” Lloyd said. “He’s a great kid who’s tough but that was a tough, tough ending and heartbreak. But that’s basketball.”
Millennium guard Cameron Holmes (3) celebrates a shot against the Sunnyslope Vikings on Jan. 21, 2026.
Rocky Mountain low
Lloyd doesn’t need to be warned about the dangers of taking a team into the mile-high CU Events Center, especially on Senior Night.
He lived the experience during his first season as the Wildcats’ coach on Feb. 26, 2022.
That night, just two days after Colorado had been blown out by ASU, the Buffaloes held UA to 39.2% shooting and scored 22 points off 16 UA turnovers. Colorado wound up handing UA one of only four losses that season, 79-63.
Colorado forward Jabari Walker celebrates after drawing a foul on Arizona center Christian Koloko, front, as Colorado guard KJ Simpson and forward Tristan da Silva, right, help him up.
“I've gone up there with a good team before and got smacked,” Lloyd said. “I know how tough it is to play there. Trust me, it's got my full attention.”
Foreign tour possible
Arizona might not want to repeat its 2023 trip to Israel and the United Arab Emirates at the moment, but Lloyd said the Wildcats “might figure out” a foreign trip somewhere next summer if the NCAA rules change.
Teams have long been restricted to taking a foreign exhibition trip once every four years, a rule that means UA would not be eligible until 2027, but Lloyd said it’s possible teams will soon be able to go whenever they want.
Arizona’s Keshad Johnson goes for the selfie angle with a new friend as the Wildcat men’s basketball team went on a players-only “dune bashing” excursion in the United Arab Emirates.
The four-year rule used to mean a player staying with a school for four years would be assured of a trip once, but that’s an antiquated notion in the NIL era. Some players take no trips, while others can take two or even three in a row if they transfer teams that are about to take one.
Global Sports and Events, a firm that puts together college sports exhibition tours, argued on its website that tours should be allowed more often to expand athlete experiences and also expose them to overseas basketball, since many of them wind up playing there professionally.
The company also said power conference teams are leaning toward taking tours every other year, with one of the tours acting more as a training camp with a short tour of a Canadian or Caribbean area.
Numbers game
20: Games when Colorado has had at least four players score in double figures.
30: Dollars for the cheapest ticket available on Colorado’s website. About 700 appeared to be available as of Thursday evening on CU’s ticketing seat map.
50,000: Dollars Arizona will pay Lloyd for winning the Big 12 regular-season title (Lloyd could get another $50,000 if UA also wins the Big 12 Tournament title).
— Bruce Pascoe
