One of the most popular Arizona Wildcats from the Sean Miller era will return to McKale Center for his Ring of Honor induction later this month.
Known for leading the Wildcats at point guard to their two best seasons under Miller β and for kissing the McKale floor upon his 2015 departure β Indiana Pacers guard T.J. McConnell will be inducted at Arizonaβs Dec. 18 game with Samford, having qualified by playing in his 10th NBA season in 2024-25.
Arizona guard T.J. McConnell kisses the McKale Center court floor before leaving it as a player for the last time on March 7, 2015. Arizona beat Stanford 91-69.
Nearly a year ago, McConnell was on hand at McKale along with Pacers coach Rick Carlisle and several other Indiana players when Pacers teammate Bennedict Mathurin was inducted into the UA Ring of Honor. Mathurin had qualified for being named the 2022 Pac-12 Player of the Year.
The Pacers arrived in time for a UA-UCLA game last year via charter from Portland after playing the Trail Blazers the night before, and this time McConnell is scheduled to arrive before the Pacers play the Suns in Phoenix on Dec. 19.
βWeβre gonna have to figure that out,β Carlisle said last year about the potential of returning this season for a McConnell ceremony, and it is possible that Carlisle and/or Pacers players will be in attendance again.
Undrafted in 2015 after playing two seasons for the Wildcats β and uninvited to the NBA Combine predraft camp until Miller lobbied hard for him β McConnell stuck in the league and has wound up playing a key role mostly off the bench for a decade.
McConnell spent the first four seasons of his career with Philadelphia, starting most of the 2016-17 season, then signed a two-year contract with Indiana in 2019. In 2021, the Pacers gave him a four-year $35 million deal and before this season, they agreed to a four-year extension worth $45 million.
At Arizona, McConnell was a two-year starter at point guard who helped lead the Wildcats to back-to-back Pac-12 regular-season championships and NCAA Tournament Elite Eight appearances. As a senior in 2014-15, he was a first-team all-Pac-12 player and a finalist for the Bob Cousy Award that honors college basketballβs top point guard.
Also that season, McConnell set the school record for assist-to-turnover ratio (3.03) and led the Pac-12 in assists with 238 assists, the second-highest single-season mark in UA history. Over his two seasons with the Wildcats, he averaged 9.4 points, 5.4 assists, 3.7 rebounds and 1.9 steals per game.
A native of Pittsburgh, McConnell first played at McKale Center as a Duquesne sophomore in 2011-12, then joined the Wildcats after that season and sat out 2012-13 as a redshirt transfer.
UAβs Ring of Honor is a series of banners at the top of McKale Center for players who have met one or more of several criteria. They include: Becoming a first-team all-American, a conference award for being its player, freshman or defensive player of the year, playing 10 years in a major pro league, becoming a major pro league all-star and winning an Olympic medal.
Players can also qualify for leading in three or more positive career categories upon their departure from UA and holding the records for at least five years.
Last year, Mathurin was joined in the Ring of Honor by former UA center Christian Koloko, who qualified as the 2022 Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year, and Kenny Lofton, who qualified based on his 17-year career in major-league baseball (Ring of Honor criteria do not specify that an athlete must play the same sport in the major professional leagues as at UA).
Former Wildcats and current Indiana Pacers teammates TJ McConnell, left, and Bennedict Mathurin chat after Mathurin was inducted into the McKale Center Ring of Honor at halftime of Arizonaβs game against UCLA on Jan. 20.
In 2022-23, UA inducted two one-year players from the COVID-shortened 2019-20 season: Josh Green, who qualified for winning a bronze Olympic medal with Australia in 2021, and Zeke Nnaji, who was named the 2020 Pac-12 Freshman of the Year. UA also honored former Wildcat standouts Al Fleming (posthumously) and Ernie McCray, who were officially inducted during the 2020-21 season, when fans were not allowed inside McKale.
Ring of Honor criteria are different than for jersey recognitions. So far, 34 former UA players have qualified for the Ring of Honor:
- Bob Elliott, C, 1974-77
- Steve Kerr, G, 1984-88
- Sean Elliott, G/F, 1986-89
- Jud Buechler, F, 1987-90
- Sean Rooks, C, 1989-92
- Chris Mills, F/G, 1991-93
- Khalid Reeves, G, 1991-94
- Damon Stoudamire, G, 1992-95
- Miles Simon, G, 1995-98
- Jason Terry, G, 1996-99
- Mike Bibby, G, 1997-98
- Michael Wright, F, 1999-2001
- Richard Jefferson, F, 1999-2001
- Jason Gardner, G, 2000-03
- Luke Walton, F, 2000-03
- Salim Stoudamire, G, 2002-05
- Gilbert Arenas, G, 2000-01
- Channing Frye, C, 2002-05
- Chase Budinger, F, 2007-09
- Derrick Williams, F, 2010-11
- Andre Iguodala, F, 2003-04
- Aaron Gordon, F, 2014
- Nick Johnson, G, 2012-14
- Stanley Johnson, G, 2015
- Jerryd Bayless, G, 2008
- Deandre Ayton, F, 2018
- Al Fleming Jr., F, 1972-76
- Ernie McCray, C, 1956-60
- Zeke Nnaji, F, 2020
- Josh Green, G, 2020
- Bennedict Mathurin, G, 2020-22
- Christian Koloko, C, 2020-22
- Kenny Lofton, G, 1986-89
- T.J. McConnell, G, 2013-15
Indiana Pacers guard T.J. McConnell (9) celebrates after making a three-point basket during the second half of Game 3 of the NBA Eastern Conference basketball finals against the Boston Celtics on May 25 in Indianapolis.
