Is it possible for something that doesn’t count to still be a big deal?
Arizona is hosting mid-major power Saint Mary’s in an exhibition on Saturday afternoon, taking advantage of the NCAA’s loosening of rules
regarding preseason competition. In prior years, all public exhibitions had to be against non-Division I college teams, whereas if D-I schools wanted to face off before the regular season it had to be in “secret” scrimmages that were held behind closed doors.
Arizona and Saint Mary’s had held such private matchups in years past, both under Tommy Lloyd and his predecessor Sean Miller. That made the Gaels the obvious choice for an exhibition that could be public—i.e., generate revenue—and serve as one of the Wildcats’ two warmups for the 2025-26 season.
“It’s a great program,” Lloyd said of Saint Mary’s, which has appeared in four straight NCAA tournaments and has been Gonzaga’s main rival in the West Coast Conference for a long time. “It’s been one of the most consistent programs in the country for, let’s go 10, 15, 20 years now. Randy’s a great coach, we have a good relationship. The relationship with Arizona goes before me. My relationship with him goes before me coming here. It just makes great sense. So when we thought about doing this, and obviously being able to ticket it to help generate some revenue, Saint Mary’s was an easy choice.”
Saint Mary’s is the first of two exhibition opponents for Arizona, the other being in-state NAIA school Embry-Riddle on Oct. 27. Lloyd said the second game was in line to be against the Mexican senior national team but the NCAA denied the UA’s waiver to play an international opponent.
Here’s what to watch for when the Wildcats and Gaels match up at 2 p.m. PT at McKale Center:
Starters and reserves
Lloyd said he hasn’t “totally” decided who will start on Saturday, but an educated guess would have seniors Tobe Awaka, Jaden Bradley and Anthony Dell’Orso in the lineup along with freshmen Brayden Burries and Koa Peat. Motiejus Krivas could also start, at the 4 in place of Peat.
“I wouldn’t read into it any way one way or the other,” Lloyd said when asked about the starting five.
Those six figure to see the most time along with freshman wing Dwayne Aristode, followed by fellow freshmen Sidi Gueye and Ivan Kharchenkov and senior guard Evan Nelson. Freshmen Bryce James and Mabil Mawut, both of whom are candidates to redshirt this season, would likely be last in the game among scholarship players.
“I hope everyone gets an opportunity to play, we just got to figure out what that looks like,” Lloyd said. “But also we have an obligation to prepare the team for tough games ahead. So we got to figure out if there’s certain lineups we need to look at, or a certain number of minutes we want to get guys, we kind of got to figure out what that looks like. A lot of things will be taken into consideration, but I’m hopeful we can get everybody a little burn in the game, for sure.”
A chance to learn from mistakes
Since Arizona didn’t do an overseas tour in the offseason, Saturday will mark the first time the current roster will face an actual opponent. To this point it’s all been practice scenarios and the Red-Blue Showcase, which wasn’t a full game and included Rob Gronkowski jacking up 3s and getting ejected while wearing a wig, headband and fake mustache.
“It will a real team will play, because Red and Blue was just two quarters,” Krivas said. “Really good opportunity for us just to feel how it will look against great teams.”
It will also give Lloyd and his staff a chance to see their team under the lights and with a big crowd. Arizona’s 2025-26 opener is against defending NCAA champion Florida, in Las Vegas, not exactly the stereotypical warmup game. So while this game won’t count everything about it, including the leadup to it, will have the feel of a regular season contest.
“You don’t get enough reps at game day stuff to prepare,” Lloyd said. “So anytime we can kind of try to simulate what a game day build up would look like, we try to take advantage of it.”
Lloyd is fully anticipating some growing pains. He’s probably looking forward to them so there’s something to fix.
“We’re early, so early in the season, and we know we have some hard things coming,” he said. “It’s a great test for us. We want to get out and play against another team. I’m sure there’s going to be some positive things, and I’m sure there’s going to be some negative things, and we’re just going to use this as a learning opportunity and a growth opportunity. The overriding objective is going to be to learn and to grow and to build for hopefully having a great season.”
Old friends behind enemy lines
Saint Mary’s returns only one starter from the 2024-25 team that went 29-6, won the WCC regular season title and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament, and he’s a familiar face.
Wing Paulius Murauskas spent his freshman year with the Wildcats before transferring to Saint Mary’s where the 6-foot-8 forward averaged 12.1 points and 7.7 rebounds. In 2023-24 he appeared in 23 games for the UA, averaging 2.7 points in 5.0 minutes with a career-high 12 points against ASU.
“I think he’s found a great spot for him, and I’m really happy for him,” Lloyd said. “And I think he had a good year for Saint Mary’s last year, and I think he’s poised to have a great year this year. I mean, he’s an all conference type player for them.”
Murauskas, from Lithuania, was unable to crack Arizona’s 8-man rotation as a freshman but may have played a bigger role as a sophomore had he stayed. Lloyd holds no ill will about Murauskas looking elsewhere.
“Sometimes you you come to a place and it doesn’t work out for whatever reason, but I will say this: Murrah was nothing but a class act when he was here,” Lloyd said. “He’d come with the intention of playing, and I had hoped he would play, it just didn’t work out. Ultimately, I’m responsible for that so, so I’m happy that he’s kind of found his footing, and he’s and he’s pushing forward.”
Fellow Lithuanian Krivas is looking forward to seeing his old teammate in person. They’ve kept in touch since Murauskas left and even caught up back home over the summer.
“We went fishing,” Krivas said.
In addition to Murauskas, former Arizona wing Tautvilas Tubelis is on the Saint Mary’s staff as a graduate assistant. Tubelis, the younger brother of Azuolas Tubelis, played 24 games for the Wildcats from 2020-23.
