After the final buzzer went off back in March for Arizona in a disappointing 59-55 loss to Princeton in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. It marked the second time in program history that UA has lost to a 15-seed in the tourney.

As you could imagine, the loss was heavy on the minds of Arizona and its coach Tommy Lloyd, who during the off-season mentioned the game a few times during his press conferences.

Well, Arizona was back in action on Monday night opening up its 2023-24 season and came out firing on all cylinders cruising to a 122-59 win over Morgan State. The 122 points was the most points in a season opener for the Wildcats since 1999 when they won 122-80 over Austin Peay.

Arizona opened the season with a starting line up of Kylan Boswell and Caleb Love at the guard positions with Pelle Larson and Keshad Johnson playing at forward and Oumar Ballo at center. The five starters combined for 71 points and shot 64% from the field.

Overall, the Wildcats' offense was clicking and shot 55% from the field and hit 12 3-point shots on 27 attempts.

Leading the charger for Arizona was Boswell, who score 18 points on 7 of 10 shooting from the field and collected five rebounds and an assist in his 26 minutes of action.

Although the assist numbers were low for Boswell, the ball movement with him and Love sharing the rock look very smooth and natural. Between the two and guard Jaden Bradley, the trio combined for 9 of the team's 26 assists.

During the Wildcats two exhibition games, the team turned the ball over 36 times averaging 18 turnovers in those two games. Last season, Arizona averaged 13.4 which ranked 266th nationally.

On Monday night, Arizona turned the ball over just seven times with the starting unit have four of those turnovers.

Off the bench, both freshmen KJ Lewis and Motiejus Krivas had solid nights going a combined 5 of 11 from the field scoring 20 points while collecting nine rebounds and eight assists with zero turnovers.

The defensive side of the court might be where Arizona's bread is buttered this season with the additions of Love, Bradley and Johnson to the roster. The Wildcats held Morgan State to 39% shooting from the field and forced the Bears to go 7 of 22 from the 3-point line.

Plus, the Wildcats forced the Bears into 25 turnovers that resulted into 10 points on the offensive side of the court. Arizona's defense got an added bonus with the team winning 49 to 27 on the glass.

Now, the Wildcats (1-0) will have a massive step up in competition as the team travels out East to face off against No. 2 Duke in Cameron Indoor Stadium marking the first time Arizona has played there since the 1989-90 season. The game between the two teams will be at ESPN2 at 5 p.m. (MST).

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