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On Saturday, thanks to an NCAA rule change allowing Division I teams to play each other during public exhibitions, the doors to the public opened … and much of the same thing happened.

Saint Mary’s, often a Top 25 caliber team but having lost four starters from last season, kept the Wildcats in a tight game before UA pulled out a 81-68 win at McKale Center.

Playing without injured center Tobe Awaka, and with forwards Anthony Dell'Orso and Koa Peat hobbling on the court at times, the Wildcats had their runs answered repeatedly. Saint Mary's kept the Wildcats’ lead in single digits most of the game, trailing by five with just under six minutes to go.

But, just as the famously disciplined and slower-paced Gaels provided during all those secret scrimmages, it was the sort of test UA coach Tommy Lloyd was looking for.

"Oh man, and then some," Lloyd said. "You've got to get back into the coaching mode of games and the emotions that come with it, just trying to help your guys navigate learning on the fly ...

"I'm thankful for how our guys stepped up and obviously, massive respect for Saint Mary's and what they do, how they play, just so steady."

UA managed an 11-0 run midway through the first half to take a 12-point lead but the Gaels cut it to 37-30 at halftime. Early in the second half, former UA forward Paulius Murauskas made a layup and hit one of two free throws to pull Saint Mary’s within four points.

The Wildcats went ahead by double-digits, 57-46, when Jaden Bradley converted a three-point play with 10:41 to go while Ivan Kharchenkov made layups on two straight possessions but the Gaels’ outside shooting helped keep them in the game.

Bradley led the Wildcats with 23 points and four assists while center Motiejus Krivas had 11 points and 17 rebounds. As a team, Arizona shot 53.3% but hit just 4 of 16 3-pointers, including a 1-for-7 long-range rate from Dell'Orso.

"Obviously, shooting is a big part of our identity and our game, especially my game, and I think that's something that we're always working on and trying to keep it clean," Dell'Orso said. "Because that's where a lot of the game is played, ball-screen coverage and all that. So we work on it every day."

But while the outside was shaky, the Wildcats had little trouble inside even without Awaka. Krivas soaked up 33 minutes, showing improvement on his freshman season of 2023-24 and especially on his injury plagued season last year.

"Obviously it's not ideal to play Mo 32 minutes ... the minutes were probably a little heavy, and we want to build to that, but it's what the situation called for," Lloyd said. "So I was really proud of our guys, how they responded to challenge.  Sometimes, you've got to be ready for maybe some unexpected things."

Arizona never trailed but also never really put the game away until the last two minutes. UA led by just single digits most of the first half despite going on an 11-0 run that gave the Wildcats a 12-point lead.

The Wildcats were leading 19-18 with eight minutes left in the first half when Dell’Orso jumpstarted the run. Dell’Orso threw in an offbalance jumper to give UA a 21-18 lead and then, after Bradley made 1 of 2 free throws, stole a pass from Saint Mary’s guard Joshua Dent and raced in for a dunk.

From there, the Wildcats went up 30-18 before Saint Mary’s finally broke their run and pulled the game tighter the rest of the half.

Before the game, Saint Mary’s coach Randy Bennett and Lloyd agreed to allow players to have up to six fouls before fouling out, an arrangement that was allowed because it was an exhibition. In closed scrimmages, Bennett said Saint Mary’s and Arizona would sometimes play three halves and reset the scoring after each one.

This time, Lloyd said he suggested the teams play with unlimited fouls but Bennett suggested six, so the coaches agreed on that amount. As it was, it was enough to help Arizona keep Brayden Burries in the game after he picked up a fifth with 17:22 to play in the second half.

Burries finished with 10 points and seven rebounds in 25 minutes but the Wildcats never did have Awaka around. Awaka sat out most of UA's warmups and then the entire game after suffering a minor injury Lloyd declined to disclose.

"Tobe could have played today, and he's been practicing, but we just felt like the prudent thing to was to rest him," Lloyd said. "He's been a little bit banged up, and it made us dig deep and try things you probably wouldn't have had to try."

One of those was playing Krivas for 33 minutes and another was putting Peat at center when the Lithuanian 7-footer wasn't on the floor. In turn, that opened more minutes for freshmen Kharchenkov (24) and Dwayne Aristode (20).

Lloyd wound up starting Bradley at point guard, Burries at shooting guard, Dell'Orso at small forward, Peat at power forward and Krivas at center.

All five starters scored in double figures while Kharchenkov had nine points but no rebounds over his 24 minutes. Lloyd said Kharchenkov made some good plays in the second half but that not getting a rebound in that much time was "not gonna cut it."

As a team, even without Krivas' 17 rebounds, the Wildcats were out rebounded 39-35 and Saint Mary's scored nine second-chance points on 10 offensive rebounds.

But Arizona compensated for that by holding the Gaels to 39.3% shooting overall, turning the ball over just seven times — and scoring 20 points off Saint Marys' 12 turnovers.

"I told our guys, we shot 53% and turned the ball over seven times — that's a winning formula," Lloyd said. "We held them to 39.3% and they turned the ball over 12 times. That's a winning formula. Obviously there were some mistakes defensively, and a little bit of it was due to fatigue. It may be some concentration things ... I think the tape will be a great learning tool to learn from."