No. 10 Arizona had two exhibitions to prepare for the season ahead of its season opener Monday against Canisius, while the Golden Griffins will head into the meeting in Tucson, Ariz., facing an opponent for the first time under a new coach.
Canisius did not renew the contract of eight-year coach Reggie Witherspoon, who guided his team to a 14-18 mark in his final season and a 108-130 record overall.
Jim Christian, a head coach with a total of 19 years of experience at Kent State, TCU, Ohio and Boston College, was hired after spending the past two years as an assistant at Kent State.
His career record is 320-286.
Christian said he and his team welcome the challenge of being together for the first time in a contest against a program such as Arizona.
“Those are the games that kids want to play, which is part of recruiting,” Christian said. “We will not play a bunch of non-D-I schools to build some fake momentum. We will see what Arizona can expose and then learn how we can get better and do what we need to do at the right time.”
Arizona, in its fourth season under Tommy Lloyd, utilized its exhibitions against Eastern New Mexico (117-54 win) and Point Loma (113-64) to develop chemistry, work on a rotation and further hone the off-guard skills of preseason All-American Caleb Love.
Love attended the NBA Draft Combine after last season and decided to return for his fifth year of eligibility after three years at North Carolina (including the COVID-19-impacted season of 2020-21) and last season with the Wildcats.
He was named Pac-12 Player of the Year after he averaged 18 points, 4.9 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game last season.
Love struggled in the Wildcats’ Sweet 16 loss to Clemson, scoring 13 points on 5-of-18 shooting from the field, prompting him to work on his perimeter game in addition to penetrating the lane and distributing.
“I could develop my game and kind of fine-tune my game to the point where I feel like I’m ready when my time comes,” Love said of his decision to return to Arizona. “Mainly moving off the ball, a lot of catch-and-shoots and playing off the catch.
“I’ve been watching a lot of Steph Curry this summer, especially when he was in the Olympics, using the shot-fake, things like that to create offense not only for himself but for his teammates as well.”
Arizona is another traditionally strong team added to the loaded Big 12. The Wildcats, in their first season in the conference, are a preseason pick to finish fifth behind Kansas, Houston, Iowa State and Baylor.
Arizona returns point guard Jaden Bradley and KJ Lewis alongside Love on the perimeter.
Second-year big man Motiejus Krivas is expected to start at center after Oumar Ballo transferred to Indiana. Henri Veesaar, a post player returning from a medical redshirt, will back up Krivas.
Tennessee transfer Tobe Awaka, a power forward, and Oakland transfer Trey Townsend, a wing, will also start or figure prominently in the rotation.
“We have total respect (for where) we’re stepping into (with the Big 12) and who we’re playing against,” Lloyd said. “We understand there’s going to be a lot of people out there that want to see us prove it — from fans to other schools to media to officials.”
Canisius lost its top six scorers from last season.
Cam Palesse, a redshirt sophomore guard, is the top returner. He started 16 games last season and averaged 6.8 points, 3.6 rebounds and 1.4 assists overall.
