Seen and heard at McKale: On Lloyd's party PTSD, Nelson's moment and Burries' honor

That’s why UA coach Tommy Lloyd and the McKale Center fans offered a warm goodbye to guard Evan Nelson, the grad transfer from Tucson who spent this season with the Wildcats after graduating from Harvard last season. Nelson attended youth basketball camps during the Sean Miller era and helped Salpointe win the 2019-20 Arizona 4A title.

“A Tucson kid comes home — what an amazing story,” Lloyd said in a videotaped address while the seniors and their parents strode to the court. “You’ve been such a great teammate for this group and you’ve helped us so much. ... Thank you for the gratitude and respect you have for this program. It meant a lot to me that the Salpointe state champion gets to come home and wear that Arizona jersey.”

After the Wildcats beat Iowa State 73-57 to clinch the Big 12 title, Nelson paused briefly when it was his turn to take the microphone. Then he stuck out his arm toward the fans.

"Toooooson! Let's go!" Nelson said. "This is the best team. In the best city. With the best fans in the country!"

Before the game, Arizona opened the senior player ceremonies by introducing walk-on forward Jackson Francois, the son of Athletic Director Desireé Reed-Francois who transferred from Missouri when his mon basically did the same thing in 2024.

“Your spirit on the bench is something that’s really valuable,” Lloyd said.

After Nelson was introduced, Anthony Dell’Orso walked out with family that has traveled from Australia to accompany him for the final weeks of the season. Dell’Orso transferred from Campbell in 2024 and started most of last season before playing a reserve role this season.

“Delly, the Aussie sniper,” Lloyd said. “Your passion is something that hasn’t gone unnoticed. You’ve made a tremendous impact on this program … Your character with how you’ve hung with it through tough times when your team needed it the most is to be commended.”

Both Dell’Orso and Awaka moved from the starting lineup last season into reseve roles, Awaka doing so when center Motiejus Krivas returned from a foot injury and freshman forward Koa Peat arrived to take over at power forward.

Still, Awaka has become something of a sixth starter for the Wildcats, and Lloyd expressed plenty of appreciation for it.

“You’ve been a massive part of what we’ve done these last couple years,” Lloyd said of Awaka. “Gonna miss having you around every day. Your future is bright and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for you.”

Naturally, the Wildcats brought out point guard Jaden Bradley last, since Bradley has spent three years with them and has become an unquestioned leader this season as a senior.

“As a player and a person, it’s been an honor to coach you,” Lloyd said. “Your steadiness is appreciated in this program and I’m so proud of the work that you’ve done. Not only have you put your tream in position to be successful, but also yourself in position to be successful long term.”

Lloyd's party PTSD

If Arizona's postgame party seemed just a little haphazard, with Lloyd basically serving as emcee and passing the microphone around to his seniors, that's the way it had to be.

Lloyd explained why afterward. It all goes back to a 30th birthday party he had planned after an expected Gonzaga win, when he was a Zags assistant coach.

"I learned my lesson," Lloyd said. "My wife threw a party for me on December 21. We were playing Portland State. A buy game. We had a snowstorm in Spokane, Portland State's flight was canceled. They bussed to Spokane and showed up 40 minutes before the game.

"We lost. You should have seen coach (Mark) Few at my birthday party after we lost. So after that, I don't plan anything after the games, I'm just, 'Hey, you guys can all take care of it and just tell me what to do.'"

Brayden Burries picks up Big 12 honor

Before Arizona honored its seniors Monday, the Big 12 honored UA freshman Brayden Burries.

The Wildcats’ shooting guard picked up his second Big 12 Newcomer of the Week honor after leading Arizona to wins over Baylor and Kansas.

Burries averaged 22 points over UA's two games last week, scoring 24 points in UA’s 87-80 win at Baylor and collecting 12 rebounds to go with 20 points in the Wildcats’ 84-61 win over Kansas.

Burries was also named both the Big 12’s Player and Newcomer of the Week on Feb. 2, after leading the Wildcats to away wins at BYU and ASU.

Texas Tech guard Christian Anderson was named the Big 12’s Player of the Week after leading the Red Raiders to wins over Cincinnati and Iowa State. Anderson averaged 22.5 points, 7.0 rebounds and 7.0 assists in the two games, with 31 points and 11 rebounds against the Bearcats. Anderson also averaged 36.0 minutes in the two games, playing all 40 against Cincinnati.

The Big 12 also named Baylor’s Cameron Carr, Cincinnati’s Moustapha Thiam and Texas Tech’s Donovan Atwell to its weekly "Starting Five" honor roll.

Other goodbyes?

While UA officially said goodbye to the five players, history suggests they won't be the only ones gone next season.

ESPN's updated list of top 100 NBA prospects last month had both Burries (17) and fellow freshman Koa Peat (16) in mid-first-round range while junior center Motiejus Krivas is ranked 27th — in the range of a late first-round pick (or a top NIL/rev-share payday).

Managers honored

Also before Monday's game, the Wildcats thanked five senior managers, three of whom have been with the program for four seasons.

The four-year managers, who joined the Wildcats for Lloyd’s second season, include Brett Rosenblatt of Tucson, and Bryson Linder and Jack Henderson of Denver. Blake Lindskin of Northbrook, Ill., and Ben Boesen of Tucson have spent the past two seasons with the Wildcats.

Long weekend in Tucson

The ESPN broadcasting team of Jon Sciambi and Fran Fraschilla stuck around to work Monday's game after calling UA's win over Kansas on Saturday.

Wildcats stay at No. 2

The top three teams in the Associated Press Top 25 poll stayed in place earlier this week, leaving the Wildcats at No. 2 again.

No. 1 Duke, No. 2 Arizona and No. 3 Michigan were all 27-2 entering Monday’s games. Iowa State (24-5 entering Monday) dropped from No. 4 to No. 6 after losing to Texas Tech on Saturday.

The Red Raiders (22-7) moved up from No. 16 to No. 10 as a result.

Among other UA opponents this season, Florida (23-6) moved up two spots to No. 5, while Houston (24-5) dropped two spots from No. 5 to No. 7, Kansas (21-8) stayed at No. 14 and Alabama (22-7) moved up one spot to No. 16.

The Wildcats were No. 3 in Kenpom, the NET and EvanMiya.com as of Monday. ESPN's Joe Lunardi also has Arizona as the third overall NCAA Tournament seed.