After picking up Wildcat culture last season, Kharchenkov stands out at Red-Blue game

He had to play in the Red-Blue Showcase. And figure out exactly what that means.

It’s not a game. Not really just a scrimmage. More of a preseason celebration with some standard sideshows and, always, some extra twists.

Last year, the surprise was having former UA and NFL standout Rob Gronkowski “win” the dunk contest (when the real contestants failed to make a dunk in the finals) and appearing in the game.

This year, the difference was having UA’s 1997 national championship team make an appearance, as well as four since-departed members of last season’s Final Four crew ... and a 2022 NBA Draft pick in Dalen Terry who tried to improve the dunk contest.

But more on that in a moment. The point is, for a teenager from Germany who had never played publicly on a U.S. basketball floor at the time, the Red-Blue thing was a little bewildering for Kharchenkov last season.

“I wouldn't say nervous, but I just didn't know what's gonna happen,” Kharchenkov said. “Dunk contests, 3-point contests, the gym's going crazy without even knowing me, you know? Just all these things.”

It was different for Kharchenkov on Saturday, before a crowd of about 10,000 at McKale Center. He went through all that pregame stuff and then carried the Red team to a 42-32 win over the Blue with 13 points, two assists and two steals.

“Going into this year, I knew, ‘OK, now we're gonna have a 3-point contest, now we're gonna have a down contest. After that, I have to lock in,’ ” Kharchenkov said. “Last year was hitting me like a train, and now I know how everything is gonna go by.

“And with having played here a year at that level, with the refs, with the rules, with the fans, knowing all of that in the back of my mind made me more comfortable.”

The Wildcats’ other returning starter, center Motiejus Krivas, also displayed a certain comfort level, adding 10 points and five rebounds for the Red team while newcomers Maxsim Brnovic (eight points) and JJ Mandaquit (six) also made key contributions.

For the Blue team, veteran transfer forward RJ Godfrey led the way with 11 points and five rebounds in what will be his only UA appearance this season until (and if) he is cleared legally to play a fifth season of college basketball. Godfrey is a plaintiff in the Georgia case that seeks to allow 2022 high school graduates a fifth season of college sports, after the NCAA carved them out of its new five-year eligibility window.

The Blue team also was helped by another Red-Blue “veteran” of sorts: Highly regarded freshman guard Caleb Holt had seven points and six rebounds — though he hit only 3 of 12 field goals — after learning what the event was about last season as a spectator.

Holt was then a high school recruiting target, on hand at McKale to watch from the stands, just as top in-state UA targets Adan Diggs and Darius Wabbington were on Saturday.

“No nervousness at all,” Holt said. “Just very excited to get out there with the guys.”

Holt did say it was “crazy” to play in the game Saturday after having been at the Red-Blue last year as a recruit who didn’t know where he was heading for college. Holt had already played for UA coach Tommy Lloyd with USA Basketball’s U19 team in the summer of 2025 but didn’t evaluate the entire picture until his visit to take in the Red-Blue.

“I’m glad I made this decision and it was everything I could have imagined playing here,” Holt said. “It was a great first outing.”

The Showcase scrimmage was also a McKale Center debut for eight other players. Half of them were transfers — center Ugnius Jarusevicius (Nebraska), Godfrey (Clemson), Dixon (North Carolina) and Mandaquit (Washington) — and half freshmen: Holt, Cameron Holmes of Goodyear Millennium, Brnovic of Montenegro and Lithuanian club Zalgiris, plus walk-on Joaquin Rigdon of Southern California.

Having been injured in the Wildcats’ first Lithuanian exhibition game, Brnovic made a case for a role in UA’s rotation, with eight points, three rebounds and an assist with no turnovers.

Originally from Montenegro, Brnovic is known for perimeter skills but has been playing mostly at power forward in the preseason, creating another option for the Wildcats if Godfrey is not cleared.

Mandaquit, meanwhile, made his first-ever appearance in an Arizona uniform. He sat out the Wildcats’ three exhibitions in Lithuania while continuing to recover from a foot injury that plagued him last season at Washington.

Mandaquit ran the Red team’s offense for 16 of the 20 minutes, with six points, two rebounds, two assists and a steal with two turnovers.

“I like his game a lot,” Kharchenkov said. “Super unselfish, but he also knows when to score.”

Already having played heavy minutes in Lithuania at point guard without Mandaquit around, Dixon had another busy time of it Saturday.

First, Dixon beat out UA women's basketball guard Sumayah Sugapong in the final of the 3-point shooting contest, then played all 20 minutes of the scrimmage while collecting eight points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals while turning over the ball twice.

Because reserve big men Evan Otten and Endi Aiyamenkhue were out with what UA said were “lower body injuries” with no specified timeline for a return, the Wildcats were shorthanded. They had only 11 scholarship players available for the two 10-minute halves, while walkons Addison Arnold, Jackson Cook and Rigdon also made appearances.

Holmes and Holt wound up playing all 20 minutes of the scrimmage, with Holmes collecting four points and four rebounds.

Holmes’ most noticeable effort came before the scrimmage when he won the Red-Blue dunk contest by throwing down a windmill dunk that picked up all 10s from a panel of judges that included 1997 players Miles Simon and Mike Bibby, plus 2025-26 players Koa Peat, Brayden Burries, Tobe Awaka and Jaden Bradley.

“Cam is a fresk athlete, man,” Holt said. “Y’all just don’t know. He can go up rebound, dunk, transition, just stuff that you wouldn’t see a regular person do.”

But one of the most athletic players Lloyd had earlier in his UA career, Terry, tried to add to the moment. He asked the crowd, “Y’all want to see me?” then recruited Simon and Bibby to line up in front of the basket so he could dunk over them.

Terry, who has signed an Exhibit 10 contract with the Golden State Warriors for this season, managed to throw in the dunk but didn’t quite elevate enough, and his legs wrapped around Bibby’s head.

In a weird (though almost dangerous) sort of way, maybe it was fitting: Multiple generations of Wildcats were wrapping themselves together over the weekend around the Red-Blue Showcase.

Simon said it started with a 1997 player get-together on Thursday night, while those Wildcats played golf and dined together Friday. Then, on Saturday, more recent former UA players Burries, Bradley, Awaka and Peat all stopped over on their way to NBA training camps.

There’s a decent chance future Wildcats were on hand, too, much like Holt was a year ago — maybe even Awaka’s younger brother, Kamsi, a four-star center in the high school class of 2027 who was visiting Arizona over the weekend.

But at center stage most of the time Saturday were the current Wildcats, who will be aiming to defend their Big 12 title and maybe reach another Final Four.

“We’re not making any crazy predictions,” Lloyd told the crowd when he took the mic after Red-Blue introductions. “But let’s put it this way: I like what we got.”