How rare is it for a university to have undefeated women’s and men’s basketball teams through the first 10 games of the season?
So rare that Arizona is the only school in Pac-12 history to have both programs start their seasons 10-0. When the UA men beat Cal Baptist on Saturday, the streak ran to 21 combined games.
The Wildcats' streak ended Wednesday night, when No. 19 Tennessee beat No. 6 Arizona's men 77-73 in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Here's a chronological, game-by-game look at the Wildcats' combined streak:
Date: Nov. 9
Score: No. 22 Arizona 87, Cal State Northridge 44
Where: McKale Center
What happened: The Wildcats scored 32 points in the second quarter to take a commanding lead over CSUN. Arizona wing Sam Thomas knocked down a trio of 3-pointers and scored 14 points in the season-opening victory.
She said it: “You’re going to see a lot of shooters. I hope you guys can see we’re a little bit of a new team.” — Thomas
Date: Nov. 9
Score: Arizona 81, NAU 52
Where: McKale Center
What happened: Playing in front of fans for the first time since the 2019-20 season, Arizona rolled its in-state foe. The Wildcats were led by guard Kerr Kriisa, who scored 17 points, and center Christian Koloko, who had a career-high five blocks. Following the game, the UA players doused Tommy Lloyd with water in the locker room to celebrate the coach’s first victory.
He said it: “I’ve been in a locker room celebrating before, but I was always a behind-the-scenes kind of guy. It caught me off-guard. It was a great moment. They’re a great group to be associated with.” — Coach Tommy Lloyd
Date: Nov. 12
Score: No. 22 Arizona 61, No. 6 Louisville 59
Where: Sanford Pentagon (Sioux Falls, South Dakota)
What happened: The Wildcats delivered the program's first victory over a top-10 team in 19 years. Arizona held Louisville to 28.6% shooting, and UA forward Lauren Ware had eight points, 10 rebounds, three blocks and one steal. Her final block was a game-saving play in the final seconds that helped seal the win over Louisville.
She said it:: “We’re a defensive-minded team, so I knew that was going to carry us through, especially in overtime we needed to stop and get the ball back on offense; that was my focus. I knew that we need to get a stop, so I put my mind to it.” — Ware
Date: Nov. 13
Score: Arizona 104, UTRGV 50
What happened: Christian Koloko posted a double-double and had five blocks as the Wildcats blasted the visiting Vaqueros in McKale Center.
He said it: "I didn't expect that, but I'll take it." — Coach Tommy Lloyd
Date: Nov. 15
Score: No. 11 Arizona 93, Texas Southern 38
Where: McKale Center
What happened: The Wildcats returned home to celebrate their run to the 2021 national championship game. After beating Texas Southern, they raised a Final Four banner into the McKale Center rafters.
She said it: “I’m just excited to see how the puzzle comes together and see us just get better. Because right now, we’re in November. We usually stink in November. And then we’re better in December. We’re not usually good. We don’t get better 'til January, because our process takes a long time. Our angles and our rotation. We’re better now than we were last year, offensively and defensively sharing the ball.” — Coach Adia Barnes
Date: Nov. 16
Score: Arizona 97, North Dakota State 45
Where: McKale Center
What happened: Arizona rolled to another runaway win, making history along the way. The Wildcats' 52-point triumph marked the first time they had beaten multiple opponents by 50 points in the same season since 1996-97 — and the first time the Wildcats had beaten back-to-back opponents by 50 points or more since the 1920-21 season.
He said it: “I want to see them improve… to double down on the reasons we’re having success. That’s the biggest thing — this is how we play and when we play with unselfishness, great energy, great toughness… You know, I told them, ‘You can be nice guys and still kick ass.’ That’s the message. That’s what we want to do.” — Coach Tommy Lloyd
Date: Nov. 19
Score: No. 11 Arizona 78, Marist 36
Where: McKale Center
What happened: Arizona trailed 14-12 after the first quarter, then rallied to outscore Marist 46-13 in the second and third quarters. Sam Thonas finished with a team-high 14 points.
She said it: “We didn’t start the game off really sharp from the beginning, but I thought after that this was a really good team win.” — Coach Adia Barnes
Date: Nov. 19
Score: Arizona 82, Wichita State 78
Where: T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas
What happened: Arizona coughed up a 16-point lead in first game of Roman Main Event, allowing the Shockers to send the game into overtime. The Wildcats held WSU scoreless for the first three-plus minutes of overtime, however, and won by four. Guard Bennedict Mathurin finished with 25 points and 10 rebounds.
He said it: "High-level basketball is not always a thing of beauty. It can be a rock fight, and that's exactly what it was today. They're scrappy and (we had) 22 turnovers and we've got to tighten up our fundamentals. But in a game situation, you don't have time to do breakdown drills. You've got to get on to the next play and respond. And I thought our guys did an awesome job of responding to a lot of difficult situations." — Coach Tommy Lloyd
Date: Nov. 21
Score: Arizona 80, No. 4 Michigan 62
Where: T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas
What happened: Christian Koloko finished with 22 points, seven rebounds and four blocks as the Wildcats routed fourth-ranked Michigan to win the Roman Main Event tournament.
He said it: “I learned from a great mentor in Coach Few and how to come into these games calm. The most important thing is to give your team a great plan and to give them confidence. That's been my focus in getting them ready.” — Coach Tommy Lloyd
Date: Nov. 25
Score: No. 9 Arizona 48, Vanderbilt 46
Where: St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands
What happened: Sam Thomas led the Wildcats with 13 points, while Alabama transfer Ariyah Copeland added 11 points as the Wildcats edged Vanderbilt by two in the first game of the Paradise Jam. Point guard Shaina Pellington won the game with an off-balance layup as time expired.
She said it: “We got lucky, because they should’ve won the game the way they played. ... We should all run out of here and wipe our foreheads because we didn’t deserve to win that game.” — Coach Adia Barnes
Date: Nov. 26
Score: No. 9 Arizona 75, DePaul 68
Where: St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands
What happened: Cate Reese scored 19 points and Shaina Pellington added 14 as the Wildcats won their second game in the Paradise Jam. The Wildcats and Blue Demons were tied at 56 in the fourth quarter before Arizona went on an 11-2 run.
She said it: “We started to play with a different sense of urgency. That’s how I’m used to us playing the whole game, but we haven’t been starting off like that. That’s a little bit concerning, and something we need to do better — having that level of intensity.” — Coach Adia Barnes
Date: Nov. 27
Score: No. 9 Arizona 80, Rutgers 44
Where: St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands (Paradise Jam)
What happened: Arizona held Rutgers to just eight first-half points and led by as many as 42 points on the way to a Paradise Jam championship.
She said it: “We definitely wanted to play everybody and give some experience to our people. I like doing that during our nonconference schedule, but we’ve played so many good teams that I haven’t been able to do that a whole lot. I was glad I was able to do that today.” — Coach Adia Barnes
Date: Nov. 27
Score: No. 17 Arizona 105, Sacramento State 59
Where: McKale Center
What happened: Christian Koloko scored 20 points on 8-for-10 shooting and added seven rebounds and one block and forward Azuolas Tubelis dropped 22 points on 9-for-13 shooting as the Wildcats won handily. Arizona finished with 31 assists as a team, the program's most in a game since the 2000-01 season.
He said it: “It’s just the way we play and the chemistry that we have. We just like playing with each other. We like passing it to each other and if a guy has an open shot, we don't mind giving up a good one to get a great one.” — Arizona guard Pelle Larsson
Score: No. 11 Arizona 90, Oregon State 65
Where: Gill Coliseum, Corvallis
What happened: Bennedict Mathurin put up 29 points on 11-for-18 shooting and the Wildcats opened Pac-12 play with a 25-point win on the road.
He said it: “I don't think I have to score 25 points every game in order for us to win. We have pretty good players. Everybody on the team basically is able to score 25. It’s just a matter of whose night it is.” — Mathurin
Date: Dec. 8
Score: No. 11 Arizona 94, Wyoming 65
Where: McKale Center
What happened: Arizona shot 52.8% from the field and outrebounded the Cowboys 42-27 en route to a blowout victory. Bennedict Mathurin had 24 points, 10 rebounds and five assists, while Azoulas Tubelis added 17 points and eight rebounds.
He said it: “To be honest, this was way more fun to play in front of the crowd and McKale Center in general. I just feel like it gives me like a boost, a bounce even more, and more excitement just to dunk the ball.” — Mathurin
Date: Dec. 9
Score: No. 6 Arizona 59, North Dakota State 47
Where: McKale Center
What happened: Arizona racked up 15 steals and played defense, holding the Bison to 35% from the field. The Wildcats lost forward Lauren Ware to a knee injury in the game's first moments.
She said it: “We knew at that point we need to make some big plays. Sam (Thomas), obviously, is a huge defensive stopper for us. And we know to what to expect from Sam. We both knew we need to get the ball back and we need to score. Get some steals and make them frantic offensively. We just upped the intensity defensively — made the ball-handlers have to feel us and when we did that. We had success.” — Shaina Pellington
Date: Dec. 11
Score: No. 11 Arizona 83, Illinois 79
Where: McKale Center
What happened: Illinois posted 19-0 run in the first half, but the Wildcats rallied to win in crunch time thanks to Bennedict Mathurin’s 30 points. The night before Arizona’s first true road game of the Lloyd era, the Wildcats experienced travel issues and were forced to Uber two hours from Indianapolis to Champaign since the plane — carrying players, coaches and boosters — couldn’t land due to low visibility.
He said it: “I expected a hardball game and I thought we’d be all right. You just never know until you get out there. And to take some haymakers from them and hang in there in the first half and in the second half we were able to do just enough to come out on top.” — Coach Tommy Lloyd
Score: No. 6 Arizona 77, New Mexico 60
Where: McKale Center
What happened: Freshman guard Madi Conner splashed five 3-pointers and scored a career-high 15 points while playing a season-high 20 minutes off the bench. UA led 44-42 midway through the third quarter before pulling away from the Lobos.
She said it: “Fun day, wasn’t beautiful basketball. We’ve had to gut out and just find different ways to win.” — Coach Adia Barnes
Date: Dec. 15
Score: No. 6 Arizona 101, Northern Colorado 76
Where: McKale Center
What happened: The Wildcats led just 71-67 against a hot-shooting Northern Colorado team, then went on a 30-9 run to end the game. Christian Koloko led the Wildcats with 19 points, eight rebounds and four blocks, and Kerr Kriisa added 17 points and seven assists.
He said it: “To be honest, the crowd was better than we were tonight for a lot of the game.” — Coach Tommy Lloyd
Date: Dec. 17
Score: No. 4 Arizona 82, NAU 55
Where: Walkup Skydome, Flagstaff
What happened: The Wildcats led 23-2 to start the game and outscored the Lumberjacks 52-18 in the paint in a dominant win over the Lumberjacks. Netty Vonleh led the Wildcats with 17 points and three rebounds, and Madi Conner added 12 points.
She said it: “We knew we could speed them up, we knew we could press them. That's what we're good at. We feel we can do that against any team.” — Coach Adia Barnes
Date: Dec. 19
Score: No. 8 Arizona 84, Cal Baptist 60
Where: McKale Center
What happened: Arizona fell behind 18-7, then rallied back to crush the visitors from Riverside, California. The Wildcats finished with 12 blocks against the undersized Lancers, with Christian Koloko (12 points, 10 rebounds, four blocks) leading the way. Oumar Ballo added 10 points, 10 rebounds and a career-high five blocks.
He said it: “We've just got to start the game the right way,' UA center Christian Koloko said. 'We just weren't doing our job.” — Koloko