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He had 18 points and 14 rebounds to lead Arizona to a 113-42 romp over Embry-Riddle in the Wildcats’ second and final exhibition game Monday at McKale Center.

Starting both Awaka and center Motiejus Krivas inside but never playing with both after the first four minutes, Arizona crushed its NAIA instate neighbor 58-15 in rebounding to run away. Krivas did not play in the second half while Awaka played only five minutes after halftime.

"I hope Tobe is available every game we play this year," UA coach Tommy Lloyd said. "I mean, that makes a difference for us on the glass."

Awaka said he actually hadn't missed practice time but just sat out with the unspecified injury because coaches wanted to "be on the safe side." He said it felt good to be back out there Monday.

"Last game was tough, seeing guys go to war and not being out there is hard," Awaka said. "You work hard as a team throughout the whole summer, and obviously you want to be out there with your guys."

Freshman wing Ivan Kharchenkov added 17 points and four rebounds off the bench for Arizona, while Brayden Burries had 13 points and two assists. UA shot 64.2% and held Embry-Riddle to 28.6% while the Wildcats scored 20 second-chance points off their 20 offensive rebounds.

The Wildcats struggled only early, when Embry Riddle hit 4 of 5 3-pointers against the big UA lineup to trail the Wildcats just 13-12 at the first media timeout. 

But Arizona went on a 10-0 run to take a 25-14 lead with 11:40 left in the first half before Evan Nelson assisted Awaka for two straight inside scores. The Wildcats were never challenged the rest of the night.

Before long, Lloyd played deep reserves Sidi Gueye and Bryce James in the first half, when Awaka already had 14 points and 10 rebounds before halftime. The UA student section gave James a notable cheer when he entered in the first half.

In the second half, Lloyd began emptying his bench with over 12 minutes to go, eventually playing all 16 of his players. Walk-on guard Sven Djopmo drew cheers while scoring nine points over 10 minutes, while getting two steals.

"I'm happy that all of our guys got an opportunity to play," Lloyd said. "We practice almost every day so these guys really contribute to our program in a lot of ways. I'm glad they got to get out in front of the crowd, wear that Arizona jersey and (playing at) McKale is pretty special."

Lloyd's experimental lineup to begin the game consisted of freshman Brayden Burries at point guard, Anthony Dell’Orso and Dwayne Aristode on the wings, and Awaka and Krivas playing together inside. Lloyd said afterward he simply wanted to get Awaka some early minutes because he had missed the last game and also wanted to give Burries more time.

"Nothing more than that," Lloyd said.

While Arizona had hoped to play the Mexican national team for its second exhibition, the Wildcats could not get a waiver from the NCAA to approve the matchup and instead invited the team of former UA manager and staffer Ben Tucker.

Tucker was a UA student manager during the interim seasons between Lute Olson and Sean Miller, while also having worked under UA associate head coach Jack Murphy at NAU and also under former UA associate head coach Joe Pasternack at UC Santa Barbara before becoming Embry-Riddle's head coach in 2023.

The Eagles’ roster has mostly engineering and business majors, plus a meteorology major and, naturally, two aspiring commercial airline pilots. The announced attendance at their home opener last week was 75.