As new Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd continues to settle in at his new home the good news continues to roll in. One of the Wildcats' key pieces officially announced his return Friday afternoon as freshman wing Bennedict Mathurin plans to remain with the program as his career moves forward.

The 6-foot-7 forward from Montreal shined in his first season with the Wildcats to help him gain some NBA Draft buzz. There have also been several UA players enter the transfer portal this offseason, including starting point guard James Akinjo who announced his move to Baylor early Friday.

Rather than take either of those paths, however, Mathurin will return to play for Lloyd as he moves into the second season of his career.

"This past year at Arizona has been a time of growth and learning," Mathurin said in a statement provided by the program. "I have felt the thrill of victory and the pain of defeat. My teammates and I competed in the midst of a global pandemic and through the sadness of a lost postseason, playing in front of cardboard cutouts and empty seats.

"My vision is that as Spring turns to Summer and the world reopens, our lives will get back to some normalcy. Which is why I want to finish what I started, locking arms with my teammates and welcoming back our fans to McKale. There is more growth, more learning and most importantly, more winning in my future and that future will continue here at Arizona under Coach Lloyd."

Mathurin finished the 2020-21 season averaging 10.8 points and 4.8 rebounds to finish fourth on the team in scoring. That earned him a spot on the Pac-12 All-Freshman team.

He started 12 games as a freshman and played in all 26 of UA's contests last season.

Lloyd has made it a priority to keep Arizona's roster intact as he takes over the reins from Sean Miller in Tucson with Mathurin being among the most important young players on the team.

"I wanna meet with these guys and give every one of them a chance because I think that's the right thing to do," Lloyd said at his introductory press conference last week. "I want to serve them. Ultimately as a coach I've always thought it's about serving the players. I think that's how you create good karma, doing the right thing for those guys.

"... I'm gonna be honest with you, I don't have an exact plan how the roster's gonna look. Hopefully a lot of these guys come back because Sean left a really good foundation to build upon."

Mathurin is the second notable freshman to announce his decision to return to Arizona this week after guard Kerr Kriisa decided to withdraw his name from the NCAA Transfer Portal on Wednesday to continue his career with the Wildcats.

UA currently has 11 players on scholarship heading into the upcoming season leaving two open spots for Lloyd to fill this spring.

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