Mar 23, 2025; Seattle, WA, USA; Arizona Wildcats head coach Tommy Lloyd celebrates after defeating the Oregon Ducks at Climate Pledge Arena. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Brashear-Imagn Images Steven Bisig-Imagn Images

Arizona Enters Recruiting Battle Against Familiar Face

Originally posted on Arizona Wildcats on SI
By Troy Hutchison | Last updated Sep 5, 2025 7:00 AM ET

Since taking over Arizona, head coach Tommy Lloyd has been one of the most successful up-and-coming coaches in college basketball going 112-33 over the course of the last four seasons making the NCAA Tournament each season and leading the program to three Sweet Sixteen appearances.

This past season, Lloyd and his program entered a new era of Arizona basketball with the Wildcats leaving the Pac-12 and joining the Big 12 Conference. In UA’s first season in a new conference, the team went 24-13 while finishing third in the conference standings.

In the Big 12 Tournament, the Wildcats made it to the conference title game and fell 72-64 to Houston, which would go on to play for the National Title.

Following the end to the season, Arizona lost star guard Caleb Love to graduation and forward Carter Bryant to the NBA Draft where he went No. 14 overall to the San Antonio Spurs.

Plus, Arizona saw two key players in KJ Lewis and Henri Veesaar leave the program and transfer to Power 4 programs.

Despite that, Arizona will be fully loaded again with four key returners in Jaden Badley, Tobe Awaka, Anthony Dell’Orso and Motiejus Krivas. Plus, Lloyd and his staff signed the No. 2 recruiting class according to 24/7 Sports.

Now, Arizona is locking in on the recruiting trail again and working to put together another high-level class for the 2026 recruiting cycle.

Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images

Lloyd and his staff have offered Cameron Williams, who is a 6-foot-11, 200-pound power forward that is rated as a five-star prospect according to the 24/7 Sports composite ratings and is out of Phoenix, Ariz., where he plays for St. Mary’s High School.

Over the years dating back to the days of the Lute Olson era, Arizona has dominated the state in recruiting and gotten the majority of the high-level prospects with names like Richard Jefferson, Channing Frye, Jerryd Bayless, Deandre Ayton and most recently Koa Peat all picking the Wildcats over other major programs.

Now, Williams has already set a visiting date for Arizona with it listed as Oct. 17, which would be a couple of weekends following the end of the Red-Blue Showcase.

However, recently, it was reported that Arizona made a trip up north to visit Williams at his high school making sure they were in good standings with the high-level recruit.

The same day, Arizona made an in-home visit to another five-star recruit in the Phoenix area in small forward Cameron Holmes, who is scheduled for a visit to Tucson.

Now, with Williams, Arizona will be battling former head coach Sean Miller and Texas for his commitment. This will be the first recruiting war between Miller and Lloyd since the coaching change.

This article first appeared on Arizona Wildcats on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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