Prized Arizona freshman Koa Peat made a solid first impression and has a tough act to follow up when the No. 13 Wildcats face Utah Tech on Friday night at Tucson, Ariz.
Peat dominated with 30 points, seven rebounds, five assists and three steals as Arizona (1-0) outclassed defending national champion Florida 93-87 during Monday’s season opener in Las Vegas.
Despite retaining four key frontcourt players, the No. 3 Gators had no idea how to slow the 6-foot-8 Peat — a McDonald’s All-American and three-time Arizona Gatorade Player of the Year.
“Everyone’s known about him, but no one’s really studied him and watched him,” said Wildcats coach Tommy Lloyd. “He’s a special player. Just the way he came out in that atmosphere, and he went against the first-team All-American (Alex Condon). That kid is a heck of a player, and Koa obviously more than held his own.”
Peat’s point total ranks second-highest by an Arizona freshman in his college debut. Eric Money poured in 37 against Cal State Bakersfield on Nov. 29, 1972.
Peat might be a college novice, but he was quick to pass around credit. He said that regularly going up against teammates Motiejus Krivas and Tobe Awaka got him prepared for the sensational debut.
“I think it’s just having Big Mo and Tobe guarding me at practice every day,” Peat said. “Those guys I think are some of the best forwards, centers in the country. They don’t really get noticed as much as these other guys, but I think they showed it (Monday night). I think we showed it that we’re a really good frontcourt.”
Krivas contributed six points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots in 26 minutes against the Gators. Awaka came off the bench for seven points and five rebounds in nearly 16 minutes.
Veteran guard Jaden Bradley also excelled with a career-best 27 points to go with five assists. He made 9 of 14 field goal attempts and 9 of 10 from the free-throw line.
“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,” Lloyd said of Bradley.
Figuring out how to slow the Wildcats can’t rate as a fun task for the Utah Tech coaching staff.
The Trailblazers (2-0) rolled to a 110-65 victory over Bethesda on Wednesday. Bethesda is a National Christian Collegiate Athletic Association member.
Utah Valley transfer Ethan Potter matched his career high of 23 points as Utah Tech won its first two games for the first time since the 2020-21 season. Potter averages a team-high 19 points and also has a team-best four blocks.
Madiba Owona added 17 points and Chance Trujillo had 14 for the Trailblazers against Bethesda.
Utah Tech opened the season with an 81-79 overtime victory Monday at South Dakota to end a 17-game road losing streak.
Trailblazers coach Jon Judkins was thrilled to boot that skid to the curb.
“It was big-time and you could not ask for a better game to start with,” Judkins said after Monday’s contest. “I thought we executed well and it was fun to get a win.”