Predicting Arizona's Showdown Against Florida

This will be another tough test for Arizona in the non-conference history with Lloyd at the helm. The Wildcats have put together one of the hardest non-conference slate of games once against Florida, UCLA, UConn, Auburn, Alabama and San Diego State.

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.

Although Florida is the defending national champs, the Gators saw key players Walter Clayton, Will Richard and Alijah Martin graduate, which were the leaders in the backcourt for coach Todd Golden.

The two coaches are very familiar with each other with Golden and Lloyd’s history in the West Coast Conference at San Francisco and Gonzaga.

While Lloyd was the top assistant for the Bulldogs, Golden worked his way up from assistant to  head coach of the Dons from 2016 to 2022 before leaving for Florida.

This is not only a showdown of two Preseason AP Poll Top 25 teams but a clash of heavy weight squads that represent the two best conferences in college basketball, the Big 12 and SEC, which had six teams a piece in the rankings.

As we get closer to tip-off with the game one day away, we at Arizona Wildcats On SI have come up with our game pick between these two powerhouse programs.

Game Pick

• No. 13 Arizona: 82

• No. 3 Florida: 77

Reason

In these early season showdowns guard play matters more than anything and having a senior leader at the point guard position is a massive advantage for Arizona with Jaden Bradley running Lloyd’s offense.

Plus, this game is being played in Las Vegas as a "neutral" site game, where the Wildcats have had plenty of success over the last 10-plus years. Arizona fans are known for traveling well and the environment in T-Mobile Arena will be a home court feeling for UA in what is expected to be a sold out crowd.