Tommy Lloyd knew opening the season against the defending national champions would not be an easy task. But his Wildcats stood tall, emerging victorious in Las Vegas in a marquee matchup to kick off the 2025-26 college basketball season. Here’s what head coach Tommy Lloyd, star freshman Koa Peat, and veteran guard Jaden Bradley had to say postgame following the No. 13 Arizona Wildcats’ 93-87 win over the No. 3 Florida Gators.
Tommy Lloyd:
Lloyd on Arizona’s history in the city of Las Vegas:
“We all know this, Arizona fans have a special relationship with Vegas and we love coming here. And you know, just being the first game of the year, it’s really early. Never played a game on November 3 that counted and to see all our fans around and the excitement for this game, it just kind of helps remind us why we do this. And we know at Arizona Basketball, we always talk about it, we’re part of something much bigger than ourselves, and we know we have an amazing legacy that we’re honoring all the time. And for our guys to come out and put on a show like they did, in an awesome atmosphere against a really impressive formidable opponent was pretty special.”
Lloyd on Jaden Bradley’s 27-point career-high performance:
“The Hall of Fame is awesome, but how in the world do they not have Jaden Bradley as one of the top 20 point guards in the country? And you guys know, I don’t mess with these lists that much, but, JB and I talked about it a little bit, but JB is a guy that he doesn’t need anything extra. He doesn’t take up any extra space in the room that he has to. He’s always leaving room for his teammates to be special, and at the end of the day, he’s just a get it done type of guy.
So, hopefully, I know there’s add ons to that list, but if there’s any way this guy’s not one of the top, you know, two or three point guards in the country, I mean, I’ve been doing this for a while, and they don’t make them much better than this. So he was amazing today.”
Lloyd on freshman Koa Peat’s 30-point debut:
“Koa, it was a coming out party for him, so to speak. Everyone’s known about him, but no one’s really studied him and watched him, and he’s a special player. Just the way he came out in that atmosphere, and he went against a first-team All-American, and that kid’s a heck of a player. And Koa, obviously, more than held his own. So, we’re proud to call these guys Wildcats. And it was a great, great night for Arizona Basketball.”
Lloyd on freshman Ivan Kharchenkov in his collegiate debut:
“Ivan, he’s seasoned, and you know, he obviously is young. He just turned 19, but he’s played high level basketball. He was coached by a guy named Pablo Laso. You guys might not know that name, but he was also the guy that coached Luka Doncic at Real Madrid. I’ve gotten to know Coach Laso over the years, and so a couple years ago Coach Laso was the head coach at Bayern Munich, where Ivan was playing.
And so I obviously called to do my homework, and he’s just like Tommy, you’re going to be blown away how ready he is from day one. And he showed flashes of this, but he’s also had some ups and downs and practices, but for him to come out today and then perform like he did on this stage was impressive, because I’ve been on his you know what about rebounding. He led us in rebounding tonight, so that shows me he’s a good learner. So it probably gives me the liberty to keep getting on him.”
Lloyd on Arizona rallying back after a slow start:
“Florida came out (and) some of our coverages weren’t great. And there’s a lot of things that they do similar to us, and it’s hard to guard, and that’s why we do it. They did a great job kind of taking advantage of some of that early and getting some deep penetration. And just got a bunch of points at the rim with their bigs, and then our guys kind of settled in and made some adjustments. But, I told our guys, these games are crazy and they’re emotional, but they’re long, so take a breath. You know, you can get down, you can get up. But it doesn’t mean, I mean, we were down 10 or 12 at one point. We were up 10 or 12 at one point. We were up. I thought we had that thing down until the end.
And obviously we got to work on our in the game stuff a little bit, you know, we weren’t as clean as we needed to be at the end of the game to close it out. When you have that lead, it’s paramount that you find a way to close out the game and not to give your opponent a chance to tie it. And I think Florida had the ball down three under a minute to go, and, you know, that’s awesome. It gives us something to work on. So we’re going to focus on that and and get to work.”
Lloyd on five three-point attempts and 38 trips to the free throw line:
“That’s not totally the game plan, but it’s just kind of how they’re guarding you sometimes. But, if you shoot five threes, and you can attempt 38 free throws, I mean, I don’t know…that puts a lot of pressure on a defense, because you know what happens when you shoot a free throw, they foul you, and those fouls add up, and they get deeper into the bench. And you know, maybe guys, if they are playing, they’re a little more tentative, they can’t be as aggressive. So, you know, there’s lots of ways to win a game. And I know a trend is shooting threes. I don’t think we’re going to shoot five threes a game. Obviously I’d like to be in the 20s, if they’re the right threes. And I think we’ll get there over time.”
Lloyd on getting back on track in November after a sluggish start last season:
“I’m really happy with how tonight went. Obviously a great start for our program, but having been through what we went through last year, and the character we have, and the certainty in the level of talent that we have, I wasn’t really worried about winning or losing today. I just wanted to come out and compete and get a feel for it. And to get the win is great. Now, let’s get on the plane, let’s get back home, enjoy some beautiful weather in Tucson tomorrow, relax a little bit, and start prepping for Utah Tech, and do some self scouting. Because there’s gonna be a lot of things we can clean up from this game.”
Lloyd on getting a marquee win in November to open the season:
“We’re in a great spot and I like where we’re at. But, you know what? But, I also know we got a couple games at home, and then I know, there’s this thorn in our side from LA that we got to go over and play in their city in like, I don’t know, 10 or 11 days from now. And I got a lot of respect for them, you know, we’re not even thinking about that game yet. But there’s just so many battles to be had. And you know what’s really cool? As I’m getting more experience coaching, just enjoy it. Enjoy the battles. Don’t get too worked up, don’t get too stressed out trying to figure out what you got to do to win the game, but man, this is a lot of fun.
Lloyd on the performance from Arizona’s front court:
“Great. Obviously Tobe didn’t have a great game for him and the work he’s put in, but he’s going to. And Dwayne didn’t probably play as much as he could have, but he’s got to be fine. Tobe, it’s also, we were down 10 and we put him in the game, we had foul trouble, and he was a big part of why we got back in the game. And so, there’s lots of things in impact winning. And Tobe is a stud, and I know he’s going to be great.
Mo is showing progress and he’s going to grow. Mo has really worked hard and gotten a lot better. He just needs a few games under his belt where he’s the impact guy that we want him to be, and then he’s going to get his real confidence. And obviously, Koa is a force. I think Koa is a matchup nightmare every day. And I think you’re going to continue to see more and more from his game. I mean, he also had five assists, seven rebounds, should have been double digits on boards, but we’ll get there.”
Koa Peat:
Peat on playing for Tommy Lloyd with Team USA preparing him for tonight:
“I think he really helped me this summer, especially playing with Coach Lloyd. You know, he ran some of the same sets at USA, so coming to U of A in the fall, it was pretty easy to adapt to those. And just, I think me and coach built a really good relationship this summer, and I’m just excited for the season, and I’m really happy to be coached by Coach Lloyd.”
Peat on Arizona’s two exhibition games preparing him for the season-opener:
“I think those helped me a lot, for sure. You know, just getting on the floor at McKale, playing a live game. But I think what really helped me was just the practices. We practiced really hard throughout the week leading up to this game. And I’m just grateful to have coaches and teammates that put me in positions to be good, and especially JB, he just makes my game so easy. I think, like what coach said, piggybacking on that, he’s one of the best point guards in the country, if not the best point guard in the country.”
Jaden Bradley:
Bradley on his assertive play in the second half:
“We just knew Florida was a great team, so we tried not to panic when we got down. We trusted in each other, trusted in the system, two, three ball screens, and we just took what they gave us, whether that was a pocket pass, a layup, and we just trusted each other. And we ended up getting that lead.”
Bradley on Arizona asserting itself on a national stage:
You know, it’s a long season. I just feel like we got a lot of lot of deep guys, and you know, it was Koa’s night, it was Ivan’s night, but we got a lot of guys. We got Delly, we got Brayden, and Mo, so just excited for those guys, too.”
Bradley on this feeling like an NCAA Tournament game:
“Like coach said, it’s a long game, a great opponent. We just treat every game like it’s a big one. And most importantly, we gotta, don’t get too high, don’t get too low. And have a great practice Wednesday.”