Arizona men’s basketball falls to UCLA for 1st season-opening loss in 20 years

LAS VEGAS—Less than halfway through the first half of the first game of the 2025-26 season, Arizona found itself down double digits in Las Vegas. But by halftime the Wildcats were in front and on their way to a tone-setting victory over defending NCAA champion Florida.

History partly repeated itself on Monday night, but not the good part.

Arizona suffered its first season-opening loss in 20 years, falling 84-75 to UCLA at T-Mobile Arena in a Hall of Fame Series game. The Wildcats fell behind by 14 midway through the 1st half and trailed by as many as 16 yet somehow managed to make it a 1-point game with just over three minutes to go but couldn’t complete what would have been the second-largest comeback of the Tommy Lloyd era.

Ivan Kharchenkov had a career-high 38 points, most by a UA player in a loss since Jerryd Bayless had 39 in 2008, along with 10 rebounds. He was 12 of 20 from the field and made 12 of 16 free throws. Derek Dixon scored 18, 16 coming after halftime, but was 5 of 17 from the field and 4 of 12 from 3. The rest of the Wildcats combined to make only five field goals, two by Motiejus Krivas, who finished with eight points and nine rebounds but only attempted four shots all night.

Arizona shot 36.7 percent overall and were 7 of 30 from 3. The 30 attempts were three more than in any game during the Final Four season.

UCLA only shot 38 percent overall and 34.5 percent from 3 but it won the rebounding battle 45-44 and dominated the offensive glass. The Bruins had 16 offensive boards, leading to 19 second-chance points, and limited the UA to only 28 points in the paint.

Down 43-29 at halftime, Arizona made baskets on consecutive possessions for only the second time in the game with Krivas taking (and making) his first shot. Krivas later dunked in transition and got the and-one free throw, thenDixon hit a fadeaway jumper to get the Wildcats within 48-40 with 16:10 left.

UCLA’s Trent Perry—who had a team-high 21 points and was 11 of 11 from the line—stopped the bleeding with a second-chance 3 late in the shot clock, but Arizona kept the foul pressure going on the other end, getting into the bonus with 14:38 left. That opened the door for Kharchenkov to hit 3s on consecutive possessions, getting the UA within 55-48.

Arizona started the 2nd half 6 of 8 from the field but then missed four straight shots, going scoreless for another three minutes and allowing UCLA to get the lead back to 11.

The Bruins were up 12 whenDixon suddenly found his perimeter touch and drained consecutive 3s to get the UA within 62-56, prompting Mick Cronin to call timeout with 8:30 to go. It was the closest Arizona had been since 27-21.

UCLA again responded, though, getting a pair of 3s to go back up 11.

Arizona finally got closer than two scores via a 10-0 run that included another Dixon 3 and two Kharchenkov free throws with 3:12 left to cut it to 71-70, but an unlikely source of outside shooting stepped up for UCLA with Xavier Booker hitting a contested 3 to start a 5-0 run.

Another Dixon triple cut it to 78-75 with 1:04 left, then the UA forced a 10-second violation and had a chance to tie, but Krivas threw a pass to the bench. UCLA got a breakaway dunk after breaking the press and the Bruins made their free throws to ice it.

Krivas blocked two shots and drew four fouls in the game’s first 3:09, one of those fouls drawing blood that caused him to get cleaned up by trainer Justin Kokoskie in the middle of a pair of free throws. But Arizona only made one of its first five shots, falling behind 10-4 as Texas Tech transfer Jaylen Petty hit back-to-back 3s.

Kharchenkov was the only Wildcat to make a basket over the first 6-plus minutes until JJ Mandaquit drained a 3 (off a missed Kharchenkov free throw) to put the UA up 11-10. That lead was short-lived, as UCLA went on a 14-0 run that included a 4-point play from Sergej Macura to go up 27-13 with 10:21 left in the 1st half.

Arizona went nearly five minutes without a field goal but managed to get into the double bonus with 8:43 to go before halftime. That keyed an 8-0 run that cut the deficit to six, but the inability to score with the clock moving continued.

UCLA got the lead back over 10 and kept it at nine or better the rest of the half as Arizona didn’t make a field goal the final 3:09.

Next up for the UA is its home opener Thursday night against Cal Poly.