Arizona continues to have an impressive start under new head coach Tommy Lloyd. Monday the team was kept at No. 11 in the latest Associated Press Top 25 poll despite a big win.
The Wildcats dominated Oregon State in Corvallis to open up Pac-12 play Sunday, and now UA sits at 7-0 overall heading into a difficult month of games. UA scored 90 points against the Beavers continuing a trend on the offensive end that currently has the Wildcats as the top-ranked offensive team in Division I hoops.
Lloyd's crew is currently averaging 91.3 points this season leading to the largest scoring margin (32.6) in the country and is the top assist team as well with an average of 23 assists per game.
It has not just been offensively that the Wildcats have had immense success under Lloyd. UA also has the second-best defensive field goal percentage in Division I holding its first seven opponents to just 34% from the field so far this year.
The hot start has allowed the Wildcats to move quickly up the rankings going from outside the AP's top 25 and into the top 20 before moving to No. 11 last week. It has been the best showing since 2018 for the Wildcats.
Though some teams ahead of UA lost over the last week, AP voters decided to leave UA in the 11th spot with a few teams leaping over the Wildcats thanks to notable victories. A decisive win for Alabama (7-1) over previous No. 3 Gonzaga on Saturday helped push the Crimson Tide up seven spots to No. 9 overall taking a spot inside the top 10 away from the Wildcats with Arkansas being the lone team to move out of the group going from No. 10 to No. 12 this week.
UCLA moved up one spot to No. 4 in this week's poll while USC, the other Pac-12 team in the rankings, moved up four spots to No. 16 on Monday.
UA's first appearance in the AP's top 10 since Jan. 29, 2018 will have to wait another week, but the Wildcats will debut in the NCAA's NET rankings as a top-five team.
The NCAA released its first version of the rankings Monday and the Wildcats made their debut at No. 3 on the list behind only Purdue and LSU. The NET rankings are one tool used by the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee to determine the field of 68.
Still, it is a signifier of how impressive the start to the season has been for UA. Though the Wildcats have not secured a Quad 1 win this season the team has defeated two teams within Quad 2.
Arizona does have upcoming games against other teams within the top 50 of the NET rankings including road matchups against Tennessee (No. 11) and Illinois (No. 48) in addition to Pac-12 road matchups against UCLA (No. 33) and USC (No. 7).
UA will host undefeated Wyoming (8-0), which is No. 12 in the NET rankings, Wednesday night at McKale Center before hitting the road for a Saturday matchup against Illinois in Champaign.
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