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The Wildcats knocked off defending national champion and third-ranked Florida 93-87 on Monday at T-Mobile Arena, erasing an early 12-point deficit and getting standout play from both ends of the experience spectrum.

Senior point guard Jaden Bradley had 27 points and five assists while hitting 9 of 10 free throws, while freshman forward Koa Peat had 30 points and freshman wing Ivan Kharchenkov collected 12 points and 10 rebounds.

UA coach Tommy Lloyd called it a "coming-out party" for Peat while arguing that Bradley should have been one of the 20 players named last week to the Bob Cousy preseason watch list for college basketball's top point guard. The Basketball Hall of Fame sponsored Monday's game as well as positional honors that include the Cousy Award.

"JB is a guy that doesn't need anything extra," Lloyd said. "He doesn't take up any extra space in the room. He's always leaving room for for his teammates to be special, and at the end of the day, he's just a get-it-done type of guy."

The Wildcats shot 49.2% from the field and took only five 3-pointers, with Kharchenkov hitting both of their made 3s, while mostly pounding the ball inside and getting to the basket quickly on the break from turnovers and rebounds. UA outrebounded Florida 39-36 while scoring 16 points off 15 Florida turnovers.

The Wildcats also scored 11 more points at the line than Florida, hitting 31 of 38 free throws while the Gators made just 20 of 30. Bradley made 9 of 10 free throws and Peat hit 8 of 12.

"They did a good job converting on those opportunities," Florida coach Todd Golden said. "You can't send a team to line 38 times -- a good team, any team -- and expect to give yourself a really good chance to win."

The Wildcats' victory lit up the dominantly pro-UA crowd at T-Mobile Arena, which recreated the "McKale North" atmosphere it had during Pac-12 Tournaments before the Wildcats left the conference in 2024.

"Arizona fans have a special relationship with Vegas," UA coach Tommy Lloyd said. "We love coming here."

Golden noticed.

"I think there are few more Arizona fans out there tonight," the Florida coach said. "It felt similar to SEC championship with Tennessee and playing in Nashville."

Ranked No. 13 in. the Associated Press preseason Top 25, the Wildcats were unbeaten in November during Lloyd’s first three seasons at Arizona but went 3-4 during the month last season while struggling to work out their playing rotation.

Down by 12 early Monday, the Wildcats led 50-46 at halftime and did not trail throughout the second half, though they received a scare at the end.

Arizona entered the final minute with an 88-80 lead but Florida scored on a layup by Micah Handlogten and a tip-in by Thomas Haugh after he rebounded his own miss. That left the game at 88-85 before Anthony Del’Orso made two free throws.

Haugh drove in for a dunk to cut it to 90-87 with 29 seconds left but Florida didn’t score on its next possession. Boogie Fland drove inside but dished to Xavian Lee, who missed a 3-pointer from the left corner and Peat rebounded the shot.

Quickly fouled by Fland, Peat then hit both ensuing free throws with 14 seconds left to give UA a 93-87 advantage that held up when Urban Klavzar missed a final 3-point try on the Gators’ last possession.

The Wildcats expanded a four-point halftime lead to nine twice early in the second half but Florida eventually went on a 7-0 run to tie the gamea at 67 with 7:49 left.

But the Wildcats never trailed afterward, with Peat throwing down two emphatic dunks on successive UA possessions to give the Wildcats a 74-70 lead with 6:20 to go.

Peat first threw down a one-handed alley-oop dunk off a feed from Dell’Orso and then, after Haugh missed a 3-pointer, dunked straight down the lane after taking a shovel pass in the lane from Bradley.

Bradley later threw in two straight layups to give the Wildcats a 79-72 lead with 4:37 to go before Xaivian Lee hit a 3-pointer to make it 79-75 and pull the game even tighter.

In the first half, the Wildcats erased 12-point deficits to take a 50-46 halftime lead

Peat led the Wildcats with 13 points, five rebounds and five assists while Bradley had 12 points and Kharchenkov hit both 3-pointers he took at pivotal moments. Haugh led Florida in the half with 11 points while hitting 7 of 8 free throws.

Lloyd started a somewhat unexpected lineup of guards Bradley and Brayden Burries along with Kharchenkov, Peat and Motiejus Krivas. That gave the Wildcats three freshmen while leaving two of the Wildcats’ regular starters last season – center Tobe Awaka and wing Anthony Dell’Orso -- on the bench.

While that group tied Florida 6-6 before substitutions began, successive UA lineups struggled while Florida built leads of up to 12 points midway through the half, with the Gators slicing through the UA defense inside and out.

"Florida came out and some of our coverages weren't great," Lloyd said. "There's a lot of things that they do similar to us and it's hard to guard. They did a great job taking advantage of some of that early and getting some deep penetration. They got a bunch of points at the rim with their bigs and then our guys settled in and made some adjustments."

The Wildcats took off on a 13-2 run to pull within 36-33 after a 3 from Kharchenkov and a layup from Peat. Awaka then scored inside on back-to-back UA possessions to tie the game at 39 with 5:02 left and Arizona kept Florida without a field goal for four minutes toward the end of the half while taking the lead.

The Wildcats didn't defend as well in the final minutes of the second half, but had enough to hang on.

"We weren't as clean as we needed to be at the end of the game to close it out," Lloyd said. "When you have that lead, it's, it's paramount that you find a way to close out the game and not to give your opponent a chance to tie it. It gives us something to work on. So we're going to focus on that and and get to work."