Arizona basketball's back (almost): Red-Blue event brings fan excitement, off-court value

Unlike Arizona’s 18 other appearances at McKale Center this season, the true importance of the Red-Blue Showcase isn’t about what happens on the floor.

It’s who is in the stands. The fans that Arizona players reached out to earlier this week and, as always, the recruits who will sit there in street clothes.

Like KJ Lewis and Carter Bryant, guys who watched the preseason celebration last year and made plans to be a part of it later on. Lewis is now a UA freshman who is expected to compete in the dunk competition, while Bryant committed to the Wildcats in April, is likely to attend the Red-Blue again Friday, and is scheduled to arrive in 2024-25.

The Wildcats are expected to convert another visitor to a future player this tjme, too: Four-star 7-footer Emmanuel Stephen, a native of Nigeria who is now a senior at Glendale Dream City. Stephen played with Bryant and fellow UA commit Jamari Phillips on the Paul George Elite EYBL team last spring, and all three are scheduled to be on hand at McKale Center on Friday.

The recruits, the fans, and the players are all part of the show. Here are five things to look for:

If Stephen and other UA recruiting targets have fun

The Red-Blue Showcase could be a clincher for Stephen, who already has two 247 Sports analysts and BurnerBall.com predicting he will choose Arizona over Kansas and three other schools. Earlier this month, Stephen told On3 and 24/7 High School Sports that he would visit Kansas on Oct. 6 for its Late Night in the Phog preseason celebration — but he has since scheduled his announcement for Oct. 3.

Stephen could add rim-protection skills – and a developmental path – reminiscent of Christian Koloko, who spent three seasons with the Wildcats before becoming an early second-round NBA Draft pick in 2021. A soccer player for most of his youth, Stephen became the second-leading shot-blocker on the EYBL circuit with an average of 2.8 per game last spring. He also averaged 4.5 points and 8.6 rebounds while shooting 56.9%.

Arizona is also expected to welcome two players who have been invited to join Phillips at a USA Basketball minicamp next week, 2025 four-star guard Braydon Burries of Southern California and five-star forward 2026 forward Cameron Holmes of Goodyear Millennium.

Among the other recruiting targets expected to attend include 6-6 2025 forward Andre Iguodala Jr., the son of former UA and NBA star Andre Iguodala, along with four-star 2025 forward Hudson Greer, four-star Dream City guard Ikenna Alozie and several in-state prospects: 2026 guard Mason Magee of Chandler Basha and the twin sons of former ASU star Eddie House, Kaden and Kalek House, both 6-3 guards at Scottsdale Desert Mountain.  

Who else shows up

Arizona has long boasted how it can attract more fans to what is a glorified practice than some of its opponents can for a regular-season game. But the Red-Blue can be a tricky sell, this year as much as ever.

This year’s celebration is being held nearly six weeks before the Wildcats actually play a real game, they aren’t coming off a triumphant NCAA Tournament (anyone care to remember Princeton?) and they have seven new players that have yet to bond with fans. Also: The Red Blue Showcase is not part of UA’s season ticket package, so ticket sales come from scratch.

But UA coach Tommy Lloyd and five UA players ventured to El Pueblo Park on Tuesday for a a Hispanic-themed rally in which 1,000 tickets were given away for the Red-Blue Showcase. They were attempting to bring out more enthusiasm Friday and also build longer-term bridges.

“It’s not only worthwhile, it’s vital,” Lloyd said. “I mean, one of the things that makes Arizona basketball so special is the connection it has with the community and we’ve got to put effort into that too. We can’t just be performers.

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“We talk to our guys about it all the time: Tucson is a special place. That’s why not only am I trying to teach them to fall in love with the University of Arizona and our basketball tradition but I want our guys to fall in love with Tucson and our people. I feel I strong connection. I want to expose our players to them and I want the community to see our players out among them.”

The Wildcat fam

Not only are former Wildcat and NBA players Richard Jefferson and Channing Frye co-hosting the Red-Blue Showcase but Arizona is also expecting a long list of former players to show up.

The tentative list included Arenas, Andre Iguodala, Mike Bibby, Aaron Gordon, Miles Simon, Eugene Edgerson, Talbott Denny, Matt Brase, John Ash and Quinton Crawford.

“Richard and Channing are going to be here running the show, so I’m excited to see how that goes,” Lloyd said. “And I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s some other famous Wildcats that the fans love to make appearances as well.”

Larsson’s second chance

Despite earning creativity points when he lifted guard Kerr Kriisa up for a dunk , instead of dunking the ball himself, senior Pelle Larsson was a runner-up behind Azuolas Tubelis in the Red-Blue dunk contest last season.

Tubelis is gone now, having signed a two-way deal with the Philadelphia 76ers, but Larsson will still have plenty of competition if he tries again. Larsson is expected to be joined in the contest this year with at least two especially powerful finishers, freshman guard KJ Lewis and senior forward Keshad Johnson.

One obvious candidate for the judges’ table, if he’s on hand: Gordon, who is known for memorable NBA dunk contest performances in 2016 and 2020.

How the second half plays out

While Red-Blue statistics often don’t mean much themselves, Lloyd has offered a clue about his early season rotation during the past two events: He put all his likely starters and key reserves on one team in the second half of the scrimmage, to get the group a chance to start playing together.

Last season, he started Kriisa, Larsson, Tubelis, Courtney Ramey, and Oumar Ballo on the Blue team for the second half — and went with the same five during the Wildcats’ championship romp through the Maui Invitational (though he swapped Cedric Henderson for Larsson in the starting lineup in midseason).

The difference this time is that Lloyd says he has his deepest UA team yet, meaning even the second half could be competitive no matter how he stacks the roster.