Basketball, UA alumni presence in Mideast connected; Wildcats already on way back to Tucson

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Arizona joining Kansas State as the first college basketball teams to ever play games in this Persian Gulf country was fitting for the UA in an academic sense.

Just around the time Arizona men’s basketball was elevating into a national power in the 1980s, the university was drawing students from the Persian Gulf region in part because of its expertise in desert environment development. That’s according to Hassan Hijazi, the UA’s assistant vice president for Middle East and North African Affairs.

“We were one of the pioneers as a university in introducing irrigation and agriculture resources to the region here, so the rulers started sending their students” to UA, Hijazi said, while accompanying the Wildcats’ tour of the Grand Mosque. “The drip system, desert irrigation, the study of water, water harvesting. We partnered with a lot of universities here.”

While students from the region began fanning out to schools in California and Florida in the decades that followed, Hijazi said, the cohorts from the 1980s and 1990s have remained strongly loyal to UA, and are often now at the heights of their careers.

Hijazi said the alums in the region total about 3,600 and have created a regional alumni group that holds annual get-togethers at rotating countries in the region. Hijazi said he works with them for development and research and other partnerships. UA also partners with schools in the region, sometimes offering students dual degrees from UA and a local school.

“The alums that get together, they’re always looking for opportunities to help us out,” Hijazi said. “I develop a lot of partnerships at UA, and I go to my alums for research for us and partnerships.”

Because they went to UA in the 1980s and 1990s, many of them developed a loyalty to Wildcat basketball, too: Legendary coach Lute Olson was packing McKale Center at that time, creating lifelong interest in students then who are in their 40s and 50s now.

“They love basketball,” Hijazi said.

Gulf Cats

Sure enough, that connection compelled 1989 graduate Fahad Alraisi to make a five-hour drive each way from his home in Oman to catch Saturday’s game. For the occasion, he wore a block A “alum” T-shirt he said he bought at Tucson Mall during one of his annual visits to see friends in Tucson.

As a student, Alraisi watched the Wildcats make their run to their first Final Four, in 1988.

“We had Lute Olson, Sean Elliott, Steve Kerr,” Alraisi said. “McKale was spectacular.”

Alraisi was joined at the game by Ibrahim Alowais, who, as a 1998 graduate, was around for the Wildcats’ 1997 national championship. Wearing a navy Arizona Wildcats T-shirt, Alowais made the 90-minute drive from Sharjah, just north of Dubai, along with his 7-year-old son, Rashid, who wore a block A hat.

“He’s a future Wildcat,” Abrahim said of Rashad.

That would hardly be a surprise.

Brotherly love

Arizona guard Pelle Larsson said UA coaches produced a good scouting report for Lebanon, but he hardly needed one for Lebanon’s Sergio El Darwich. The Lebanese guard spent two seasons starting alongside Larsson’s brother, Vilgot, at Maine in 2018-19 and 2019-20.

“He’s a good player,” Larsson said. “I watched him play a little bit when he was playing with my brother, so I kind of know some stuff.”

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El Darwich said before the game he was looking forward to facing Larsson, and the two had a friendly conversation at the arena.

“He just checked in on family and was seeing how I was liking college,” Larsson said. “He’s a great guy, great player. I wish him all the best.”

Murauskas away from team

Paulius Murauskas missed Saturday’s game because he went home to Lithuania, Lloyd said, “to take care of some family stuff real quick.” Lloyd declined to get into specifics but downplayed the situation, saying the freshman would meet the team when they change planes in Amsterdam Sunday morning.

World Cup representatives

While UA didn’t have any former players suiting up for the four national teams playing World Cup warmups in Abu Dhabi this weekend, the Wildcats are expected to have five alumni playing in the competition starting next week.

According to FIBA’s World Cup tracker, UA’s representatives will be: Josh Green (Australia), Lauri Markkanen (Finland), Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (Jordan), Dusan Ristic (Serbia) and Emmanuel Akot (South Sudan).

Ristic is the only former UA player to have spent more than two seasons with the Wildcats, while Akot transferred as a sophomore in the middle of the 2018-19 season. Akot went on to Boise State, Memphis (though he never played for the Tigers) and Western Kentucky.

It’s well documented that UA great Steve Kerr, the head coach of the NBA’s Golden State Warriors, is in the same role with the U.S. team.

Abrupt ending

The Wildcats’ 10-day tour ended on a rough travel note Saturday. Instead of relaxing for a final few hours or day to relax in the UAE, they left quickly after their game against Lebanon, then had an hour to eat and change at their hotel before checking out and making a 90-minute drive to the Dubai airport.

There, the Wildcats were scheduled to board the first of three flights in a journey home expected to last nearly 30 hours. And, on Monday morning, they’ll have fall semester classes to start attending.

The good news: Morning classes at UA might feel like evening classes for those who still have Middle East body clocks.

“At least we won’t have any trouble getting up early,” Larsson said.

Alabama return game set

While the Wildcats were in the United Arab Emirates, the return game of their upcoming series with Alabama was set. The two UAs will play in Birmingham on Dec. 18, 2024.

The two-year series was agreed to earlier this year, and the first game was already announced, to be played on Dec. 20 in Phoenix as part of the “Jerry Colangelo Hall of Fame Series.”

Exclusive coverage of UA hoops Mideast Tour — only in the Star and at Tucson.com/Pascoe