Arizona opens its preseason Tuesday night against San Francisco, the first of three exhibition games the Wildcats will use to test a roster still taking shape. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. PT at ALKEME Arena at McKale Center, and the game will air on +.
For Arizona Basketball, the timing matters because this is the first chance to see how the group looks against a Division I opponent after August’s three games in Lithuania. The Wildcats are expected to lean on a projected starting five of Cameron Holmes, Caleb Holt, Derek Dixon, Ivan Kharchenkov and Motiejus Krivas, with Bryce James and JJ Mandaquit as the first backcourt subs and Ugnius Jarusevicius and Maksim Brnovic first off the bench in the frontcourt.
Jack Murphy said the preseason schedule was built to stress Arizona early. “These are tough, competitive games,” he said, adding that San Francisco “probably is in it” if the NCAA Tournament were expanded to 76 teams in recent years. He pointed to San Diego State as “a perennial NCAA Tournament team” and Eastern Washington as “one of the more talented teams in the Big Sky,” calling the stretch “a great challenge for our guys early on” and “an opportunity to play against good teams in preparation for our opener in November.”
The matchup also gives both teams a first real look at what they are working with. Arizona used two different starting lineups in its three Lithuania games, and it can now combine that film with what it saw at the Red-Blue Showcase. San Francisco brings its own questions, though it also has a clearer read on Arizona after reviewing those same preseason games.
There is still one obvious wrinkle for Arizona. Clemson transfer RJ Godfrey is listed as part of the rotation picture, but he remains ineligible pending his case against the NCAA in Georgia. Idaho State transfer Evan Otten and freshman Endurance Aiyamenkhue both sat out the Red-Blue Showcase because of minor injuries, leaving the Wildcats with a few moving parts even before the real games begin.
San Francisco arrives with a group that looked different a year ago. The Dons went 17-16 last season and finished in the middle of the West Coast Conference, but they enter this one with 11 freshmen and four transfers, including former St. Thomas wing Ben Oosterbaan, who averaged 7.6 points and 4.2 rebounds last season as a sophomore. Forward Ndewedo Newbury was a starter in both 2023-24 and 2024-25 and is a career 38.1 percent shooter from 3-point range, while Slovenian freshman Ziga Daneu is 6-11 and Gonzaga transfer Ismaila Diagne is 7-foot.
Chris Gerlufsen took over San Francisco in 2022 after Todd Golden left for Florida, and the program won 20 or more games in each of Gerlufsen’s first three seasons before sliding to 17-16 last year. That makes Tuesday more than a tuneup. Arizona gets its first live look at a Division I opponent with real size, real turnover and real stakes for a team trying to settle on a rotation before Friday’s game against San Diego State and the Oct. 23 exhibition against Eastern Washington.
