Arizona Wildcats men's basketball returned to the lab after the fan-friendly Red-Blue Showcase

The Red-Blue Showcase is primarily a fan event. Name it. Meet the team with some basketball thrown in for good measure. The results have no influence on anything, nor do the performances.

That was Tommy Lloyd's Message after a 20-minute show that saw Team Red rally in the second half to defeat Team Blue 47-44 at McKale Center on Friday night. Caleb Love led the Red, with four of Arizona's top returning scholarship players scoring 19 points, including the go-ahead 3-pointer, with 2:55 left as Campbell subbed Anthony Dell'Orso had 15 for a Blue squad that featured four of the Wildcats' five newcomers.

“I literally had nothing to do with it,” Lloyd said of the squad. “That was all (assistant coach) Jack Murphy. I love my employees and give them a lot of freedom, so I went with whatever they were comfortable with.”

Lloyd said the exhibition was the “longest extended scrimmage” Arizona has experienced since preseason practice officially began on Sept. 23. He said the game was extremely helpful in seeing his players develop habits and get comfortable with the pace and style of play, especially for the newer players, but that it would not result in any final decisions about rotations or playing time.

“I told our guys: No matter what happens in the red-blue game today, whether you play great, your team wins, you play poorly or your team loses, it probably won't have any impact on our journey as a team this season .”, or your journey as a player,” Lloyd said. “We’ll practice tomorrow. I can barely wait for it. We’ll record it and carry on like a normal day.”

The scrimmage was preceded by a 3-point contest and a dunk contest. Love struck the newcomer Carter Bryant In the final he hit the last money ball just before the buzzer and won 17:16.

“I had to make it interesting,” said Love, the reigning Pac-12 player of the year who likes other UA guards Jaden Bradley And KJ Lewis tested the NBA Draft waters last spring before returning to Tucson for a second season.

Bryant, a 5-star prospect who committed to UA nearly 18 months ago, also competed in the dunk contest and beat defending champion Lewis in the finals. He said this was the fifth Red-Blue game he had attended, including as a recruit and when his father gave him tickets for his birthday one year.

“This is surreal to me,” Bryant said. “It’s great for me to finally have the opportunity to take part in a red-blue game.”

The only scholarship recipient who did not attend Friday was the sophomore Motiejus Krivas, who is dealing with a lower body injury that has kept him from training lately. Lloyd said there was no need to “throw him out there” for a scrimmage.

“It’s no secret if we were in the middle of games, he would be ready to play,” Lloyd said.

Arizona's first contest against another team will be at home against Eastern New Mexico on Oct. 21, the first of two exhibitions. The 2024-25 season begins Nov. 4 at McKale vs. Canisius.