Oumar Ballo leads Blue to 60-48 win over Red in Arizona Basketball 'showcase' at McKale

Oumar Ballo stood up straight in front of the basket, then folded his arms and bowed his head down slightly. If he wasn’t praying, a few fans inside McKale Center might have been.

A mixture of cheers and gasps emanated from the crowd of about 13,000 on hand at McKale Center when it became clear that the 7-footer from Mali would be the obstacle freshman KJ Lewis would try to leap over in his attempt to win the dunk contest as part of the Arizona men’s basketball program’s season-opening Red-Blue Showcase Friday night on the UA campus.

Between that idea, and senior forward Keshad Johnson’s attempt to head the ball in the basket as teammate Kylan Boswell held it off a ladder, coach Tommy Lloyd might have struggled to keep his eyes open.

“There were a couple of questionable” choices, Lloyd said. “That one (by Lewis), and the ladder? … I was just like, `Oh my god, please don’t let something bad happen.’ ”

Ultimately, there were no worries. Lewis sprung over Ballo to win the dunk contest, and Johnson banked originality points when his head pushed the ball in the hoop during the first round, though he lost to Lewis in the final when he missed his attempt.

It was that same trio that stood out in the event’s Red-Blue scrimmage itself. Ballo led the Blue team to a 60-48 win over the Red. Ballo registered 18 points and 10 rebounds, while Johnson had 13 points and hit 3 of 8 3-pointers to lead the Red team. As for Lewis, he kept on leaping for the Red team. He scored nine points and raced to block a shot from fellow newcomer Caleb Love.

Meanwhile, Love added 10 points and four assists for the Blue, while teammate Jaden Bradley had nine points, three rebounds and two assists. For the Red, Boswell had seven points and four assists, not counting his top-of-the-ladder dish, while Lithuanian freshmen Paulius Murauskas (eight points and seven rebounds) and Motiejus Krivas (seven points and four rebounds) had impactful debuts.

Up and down both team rosters, there was production — more so than was displayed during the Red Blue scrimmages of the past two seasons under Lloyd.

“It changed a lot,” said Ballo, who is one of only two players left from Lloyd’s first season, along with guard Pelle Larsson. “The way we came out today was a big difference. It was competitive. Guys were trying to win. We didn’t come here (just) to play. We came to play our asses off.”

The Blue team never trailed and led 33-19 at halftime, with Ballo already having poured in 12 points in the first half. But the play was compelling enough that Lloyd did not switch players around at halftime after having assembled potential starters together as he had in the second halves of the previous two Red-Blue scrimmages.

He just let the Wildcats go.

“I didn’t realize it was a 14-point (halftime) margin, but I also wanted to see that (Red) team battle back,” Lloyd said. “Our guys want to do it again later this week behind closed doors with the same teams. I liked that.

“I think we have more depth right now so we could let those two teams kind of battle it out. Maybe sometimes in the past, you’re locked into 6-7-8 guys and you want them to play together under the lights and get a feel for that. But I think we’ve got a lot of options now.”

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While the Wildcats’ inside options undoubtedly center around Ballo, a returning first-team all-Pac-12 player, their potential backcourt depth spilled over in different ways Friday. Point guards Kylan Boswell (seven points, four assists) and Jaden Bradley (nine points, two assists) went head-to-head while Love came back from a 1-7 shooting effort in the first half to go 3 for 6 in the second, finishing with 12 points, four rebounds and four assists.

Then, in addition to the versatile Larsson, there were two other guys who are pushing for time in the backcourt: Sophomore Filip Borovicanin won the pregame 3-point shooting contest (though he missed all three 3s he took in the intrasquad game), and Lewis appeared ready to contribute on both sides of the floor, as he did during Arizona’s three-game exhibition tour to the Middle East.

For Lewis, it was an especially memorable debut at McKale Center for a freshman who calls El Paso home but also lived in the Tucson area earlier in his youth.

“Going into it, I was anxious and nervous, because growing up as an Arizona fan, it’s something I dreamed of, playing in front of everybody here,” Lewis said. “It was everything that I thought it would be.”

The scrimmage capped off what was over a three-hour celebration of Arizona basketball, beginning with an UA Adaptive Athletics game and the introductions of players, who streamed down through the crowd before jogging through a human tunnel.

After the introductions, Lloyd grabbed the microphone to tell the crowd of about 13,000 fans he loved them while also pledging to win a championship. UA won 61 games over Lloyd’s first two seasons but ended last season on a sour note with a loss to 15th-seeded Princeton in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

“I know it ain’t gonna be easy but I didn’t ask for easy,” Lloyd said of his championship goal. “We had a great first two years and we had a tough last game. But that last game is gonna be the best gift I ever had in coaching.”

Former UA and NBA standouts Richard Jefferson and Channing Frye co-hosted the event alongside Allie Clifton (the trio host the “Road Trippin’” podcast). They were joined at halfcourt at one point by two other prominent ex-Wildcats, Miles Simon and Mike Bibby, while several other former players were also on hand.

The video board extended the Wildcat ties even further, with Arizona piping in live interviews with Warriors coach Steve Kerr and Cavaliers assistant Luke Walton that were intended to reach fans (and, likely, recruiting targets).

UA commits Carter Bryant and Jamari Phillips attended the Showcase, along with other top UA targets that included 2024 center Emmanuel Stephen, 2025 four-star guard Braydon Burries of Southern California, 2025 forward Hudson Greer and five-star forward 2026 forward Cameron Holmes of Goodyear Millennium.

“I will tell you this, `Enjoy every moment. It’s a special to be an Arizona Wildcat,’ “Walton said via the video board. “Leave everything out on the court.”