After giving fans a look at what the latest Arizona squad will look like this year, the Wildcats will make their debut against an opponent Monday night when they host Eastern New Mexico in one of two scheduled exhibitions before the season opener.

Monday night's exhibition at McKale Center (7 p.m. MST, ESPN+) will be the first opportunity for head coach Tommy Lloyd to get a look at his new group in front of the home crowd.

Lloyd is now in Year 4 leading the Wildcats, and there is again plenty of expectations being placed on UA this year. Arizona enters the season ranked No. 10 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll.

In most years that would mean the Wildcats had been picked to win their conference. However, realignment has changed things quite drastically for UA and many programs across the country.

The Wildcats have been picked to finish fifth in the Big 12 this season marking a change for a program that has dominated the Pac-12 in recent history. UA received just one first-place vote in the poll of league coaches to finish behind Kansas, Houston, Iowa State and Baylor.

Monday's exhibition with the Division II Greyhounds will be the first opportunity for Lloyd and his team to begin preparing for their challenging conference slate plus a handful of marquee nonconference matchups as well.

Arizona returns several key pieces from last season's team that reached the Sweet 16 including 2023-24 Pac-12 Player of the Year, Caleb Love (18.0 ppg, 4.8 rpg). Guards Jaden Bradley (7.0 ppg, 2.4 rpg) and KJ Lewis (6.1 ppg, 3.1 rpg) return as the core of a group that has aspirations of making an even deeper run in the NCAA Tournament this season.

Added to the mix for Lloyd and the Wildcats this season will be a crop of new transfers highlighted by 2024 Horizon League Player of the Year Trey Townsend who averaged 17.3 points and 8.1 rebounds in guiding Oakland to a win over Kentucky in last season's NCAA Tournament.

Tennessee forward Tobe Awaka (5.1 ppg, 4.6 rpg) and Campbell wing Anthony Dell'Orso (19.5 ppg, 6.5 rpg) are two of the other transfer newcomers who are expected to play a role for the Wildcats this season.

Arizona also added some key freshmen this offseason led by McDonald's All-American forward Carter Bryant alongside 7-footer Emmanuel Stephen.

The well-rounded Arizona squad has focused on getting everyone up to speed as the team prepares for the rigors of a schedule that will have it competing in arguably the toughest conference in college basketball. The Big 12 features five teams in the top 10 of the preseason AP poll.

"I think what you're hoping to see is just you're building habits, and you're getting a comfort with the way we play," Lloyd said about the early fall work after the team's Red-Blue Showcase a few weeks ago. "... Just to see us get in the flow and get up and down, and see some of our newer guys get comfortable. Have them understand why we do the things we do, and why we play with the pace and tempo we do."

Monday's exhibition will match the Wildcats up against an opponent that is coming off a strong season. ENMU finished with a 22-10 record last season and earned the Lone Star Conference tournament title.

The Greyhounds averaged 90 points last season and 12 games in which it scored at least 100.

ENMU has a new head coach as Daven Võ is taking over for Brent Owen, who left to take over at Lenoir-Rhyne University in the spring. The Greyhounds do return a number of players from last season's squad led by 6-foot-5 forward and top returning scorer Mario Whitley (10.9 ppg, 7.3 rpg) and 6-foot-9 forward Jose Murillo (8.6 ppg, 5.5 rpg) who started a combined 60 games for the Greyhounds last season.

The Wildcats will host Point Loma next Monday in their second exhibition before opening the season Nov. 4 at home against Canisius.

As the Wildcats prepare to take the floor against a different team for the first time this season, Love learned Monday that he is one of six players heading into the season as an AP All-American.

The Associated Press released the results of its voting and the Arizona guard made the cut after tying with Duke freshman Cooper Flag for the final spot pushing the AP to make it a six-man team.

Love is one of two players from the Big 12 on the list joining Kansas big man Hunter Dickinson. Mark Sears (Alabama), RJ Davis (North Carolina) and Johni Broome (Auburn) are the other members of the first team.

The Arizona star, who returned for his final season with the Wildcats after testing the NBA waters, helped guide the team to 27 wins last season before eventually earning a spot as a member of the AP All-America third team and a semifinalist for the Naismith Trophy.

Love was named a preseason All-Big 12 first team member earlier this month.