Dalen Terry boosts himself over teammate Jordan Mains and Terry’s younger brother on his first attempt during the dunk contest of Saturday’s Red-Blue Game.

 Kelly Presnell photos, Arizona Daily Star

Having lost an entire season without fans that they’ll never get back, the Arizona Wildcats began this one moving quickly to make up for it.

Before a celebratory Red-Blue Game at McKale Center before about 8,000 fans on Saturday, the Wildcats danced and slapped their way through introductions, while three of them hit halfcourt shots during a shooting contest and Dalen Terry used a combination of creativity and athleticism to run away with the dunk competition.

That is, the same Dalen Terry who signed up to play for the Wildcats after seeing a Red-Blue Game as an in-state prospect, then found out as a freshman last year that the game wouldn’t be played at all because of coronavirus concerns. And the same Dalen Terry who found out later that no fans would be allowed for any of UA’s 16 home games.

No wonder he was having a good time with this one.

“It definitely reminded me that this is Arizona,” said Terry, who received perfect dunk scores for elevating over teammate Jordan Mains and also by working a 360-degree dunk off a pass from the stands. “The fans are crazy and that’s all I heard before I came here. So when COVID hit, we were still a great basketball program, but the fans made us even better.

“Having the fans out there … I wouldn’t have made those dunks if the fans weren’t out there.”

The Wildcats moved quickly to engage the fans in the scrimmages, too. Literally.

Over the first 29 seconds of the Red Blue Game’s first half, Arizona’s Blue team went ahead 5-0 on a layup from Christian Koloko and a 3-pointer from Kerr Kriisa. Though the Red-Blue Game was effectively only the Wildcats’ fourth full practice of the preseason, it was clear they would be running a more uptempo pace under new coach Tommy Lloyd.

UA scored 92 total points in what was essentially just half a game, with only two 10-minute halves being played.

“I felt good” about it, Lloyd said. “I mean, I don’t usually check pace by possessions or Kenpom (ratings). I’ll look at efficiency stats and stuff like that but for me it’s more of a gut feel, and I felt pretty good.

“What I’m looking for is are we going north-south? Are we throwing the ball ahead? If we’re not throwing ahead, are we getting the ball to the middle of the court? Is our big going down there engaging in transition? And are we flowing into our actions?

“I know this: It was better today than it was on Wednesday, when we scrimmaged with refs. It wasn’t as good as it could be but today we took a step forward.”

And even though super-senior forward Kim Aiken only played in McKale Center once last season — as a member of the Eastern Washington Eagles — you could say he was making up for lost time, too.

Having gone 1 for 7 from 3-point range in EWU’s 70-67 loss to the Wildcats early last season, Aiken hit all four 3s he took Saturday while totaling 20 points over both 10-minute games.

“I wasn’t making any of them,” Aiken said of his frustrations at McKale last season. “Today to finally get some 3s out on McKale — I’ve been practicing on this court since I got here so it’s nice to get the reps in.”

Scoring 20 combined points between a first half with the Red and second half with the Blue, Aiken rescued the Red team from a potential blowout in the first half.

Justin Kier argues a call against him with one of the game officials in the first half of Saturday’s Red-Blue Game.

The Blue team went on from its initial 5-0 outburst to build a 24-12 lead with 3:30 remaining before Aiken had two more 3-pointers from there. He also finished the half by dunking in a missed free throw by teammate Bennedict Mathurin before time ran out, cutting the Blue’s lead to just 28-25.

Aiken finished the half with 16 points and three rebounds while hitting all four 3s he took. For the Blue team Tubelis had 14 points on 7-for-7 shooting while Christian Koloko had seven points, four rebounds and three blocks.

Over both halves, Aiken hit 8 of 10 shots, Mathurin had 16 points on 6-for-12 shooting, Kerr Kriisa had eight points and two assists, Tubelis totaled 14 points and seven rebounds, while Koloko finished with 10 points, four rebounds and four blocks.

Even though the Wildcats were playing with only 11 scholarship players — missing sophomore guard Pelle Larsson, who is expected to play a major backcourt role — energy never lacked.

Terry explained one reason why.

“The adrenaline was crazy,” he said. “Last year, you were hearing everybody’s shoes squeaking, coach screaming, you hear everything. Now it’s like we gotta really lock in, talk more on defense and stuff like that.

“Just hearing the crowd after you score or make a good plays, it just makes a player want to do better and just keep making winning plays.”

The energy was immediate upon Arizona’s pregame introductions. Terry danced his way to center court, while his teammates offered a mix of steps, slaps and smiles.

And when Lloyd entered McKale Center last, predictably receiving the loudest ovation of the introductions, he ducked his head slightly and gestured out toward his new team.

If fans made that moment about him, the day was not.

New UA coach Tommy Lloyd gestures to one of his players after he picked up a foul during Saturday’s scrimmage.

“I mean, listen, you’re the head coach at Arizona. I get it. It’s a big deal,” Lloyd said of the applause. “But at the end of the day, you don’t coach for yourself. You’re coaching because you’re involved with young men and helping them.

“I get much more joy out of doing things for the guys and making it about them and being behind the scenes and helping build them up. That’s where I want my focus to be.”

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Contact sports reporter Bruce Pascoe at 573-4146 or bpascoe@tucson.com. On Twitter @brucepascoe