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Probable starters

ARIZONA

0 G Jaden Bradley (6-3 senior)

5 G Brayden Burries (6-4 freshman)

18 F Ivan Kharchenkov (6-7 freshman)

0 F Koa Peat (6-8 freshman)

13 C Motiejus Krivas (7-2 junior)

Key reserves

3 F Anthony Dell’Orso (6-6 senior)

30 F Tobe Awaka (6-8 senior)

2 F Dwayne Aristode (6-8 freshman)

NORFOLK STATE

20 G Jordan Leaks (6-3 sophomore)

7 G Anthony McComb (6-3 senior)

2 F Elijah Jamison (6-3 senior)

11 F Devon Ellis (6-7 senior)

23 C Keyonte Lewis (6-9 senior)

Key reserves

1 F Dian Wright-Forde (6-7 senior)

6 C Melo Baines (6-8 sophomore)

21 F Jaquel Morris (6-8 senior)

How they match up

The series: UA has never played Norfolk State

Game agreement: Norfolk State is appearing as part of the “Wildcat Classic� multi-team event, in which Arizona also faced Denver on Monday and Norfolk State played at Wyoming on Sunday. Arizona and Wyoming will not play each other.

Norfolk State overview: Having won 94 games over the past four seasons, and making three of the past six NCAA Tournaments, Norfolk State coach Robert Jones has a proven formula for navigating a mid-major program in the transfer portal era. Under him, Norfolk State became only the second HBCU ever to put together four straight 20-win seasons. But he has a particularly tough challenge getting to five straight this season, having lost his top nine scorers from a team that fell to eventual national champion Florida in the NCAA Tournament.

So far this season, the Spartans kicked away a chance to pick up a road win at William and Mary, losing 81-78, and also have lost road games at Old Dominion, Towson and Wyoming — but have remained competitive in all of them. They have one Division I win, beating Hampton 62-60 at home. After losing 75-67 at Wyoming last Sunday, they went home to beat non-NCAA program Virginia Lynchburg 136-79.

Defensively, against their five Division I opponents, the Spartans rank 194th in two-point percentage allowed (52.7%) and opponents turn the ball over on 18.5% of their possessions. Norfolk State is aggressive but inefficient offensively, shooting just 41.1% inside the arc, the 12th-worst two-point percentage rate in Division I.

The Spartans will sometimes run a four-out scheme, with point guard Elijah Jamison, a veteran who has played at Milwaukee and UNC Wilmington, leading a perimeter group while 260-pound Wagner transfer Keyontae Lewis or Melo Baines is in the low post. They don't emphasize catch-and-shoot scoring as much as taking it to the basket, with 3-pointers making up just 27.5% of their shots taken.

He said it: “They're a big system team, as far as they like to run a lot of sets. They have seven Division I transfers, most of them are two-time transfers. They’re older, experienced guards and they put pressure to the basket. Their two main guards (Jamison and Anthony McComb) like to get active. A lot of their sets of what they do is based on those guards being aggressive, getting to the line, drawing fouls. That's who they are as a team.

“They can all dribble, pass, make plays and shots go in because they play so hard, and it's so decisive. They make decisive plays, and that's always scary to play against because it could be their night, and the ball goes in.

“Some of the schemes they want to do offensively are kind of similar to Denver, as far as they're comfortable with playing a four-out, one-in, guys attacking, trying to create disadvantages, but the thing that's a little different is they're a winning culture. We respect them a lot. They’ve been in spots like ours.

“That Wyoming game, they got down by 25 and fought back. it was a two-, three-possession ball game with three minutes left. That’s the culture and the mindset and the toughness of that team. You’re not gonna just play well and put them away.

Defensively, “they'll throw a lot of different looks at us. They’ll play different ball screen coverages. They'll switch. They'll throw some zone in there. They're a crafty defensive team, they don't play one-on-one defense. It's always help. It's always a guy coming. It's always switching up. So we’ve got to be locked in on all aspects as far as how to attack them.� — UA assistant coach Brandon Chappell, who scouted the Spartans

Key players

NORFOLK STATE

Anthony McComb

One of the Spartans’ double transfers, having played for Bowling Green and New Hampshire, McComb may have finally found a comfortable home. He’s averaging 16.8 points and scoring from all levels, shooting 37.0% from 3-point range and drawing 4.0 fouls per 40 minutes against Division I teams.

ARIZONA

Dwayne Aristode

Do the Wildcats want or need to shoot a whole lot of 3s this season? Aristode can. Already locked into the eighth spot on UA’s eight-player rotation, Aristode took advantage of an extended audition Monday against Denver by hitting 4 of 8 3-pointers and scoring 17 points. He’ll likely get another 20 or more minutes Saturday.

Sidelines

Goofy MTE era ends

If Arizona beats Norfolk State on Saturday, the Wildcats and Wyoming would both be 2-0 in Wildcat Classic play, setting up a natural championship game … that won’t ever happen.

There won’t be an all-tournament team, an MVP nor a trophy of any sort, either, after Saturday’s game wraps up the event. Everyone just gets the satisfaction of having received the chance to play an extra two games toward the NCAA scheduling maximum, making more money and getting more experience.

Arizona’s homemade multi-team event, like many similar ones around the country, has been merely an instrument to take advantage of a soon-to-be-obsolete rule giving teams participating in an MTE the chance to play in 31 games. Those not playing in an MTE can play in only 29, so pretty much everyone enters or constructs an MTE.

But the NCAA passed a rule allowing all teams to play in 32 games next season regardless of if they’re in an MTE, meaning fabricated events such as the “Wildcat Classic� are no longer necessary. It also gives teams more flexibility to participate in the well-paying Players Era Festival or schedule more lucrative neutral-site games.

“It's complicated. Let’s make it less complicated, and I think that's what they're doing,� UA coach Tommy Lloyd said. Now, “we can schedule them however we want, which makes sense because scheduling is not a one-size-fits-all thing.

"Depending on where you're at with your program, you’ve got to schedule certain ways to give your team the best chance to be successful. I'm glad they've gotten rid of it and went to more of a common sense approach.�

Lloyd ‘excited’ about Holmes

After UA’s long recruitment of Cameron Holmes paid off last week, with the Goodyear Millennium forward signing with the Wildcats, Lloyd said he was excited not only about Holmes’ talent but also his makeup.

“He’s a great young man from a great family, super high character, great energy,� Lloyd said. “He’s fun to be around. His teammates love him, coaches love him, and he's a really talented player. He's got electric athleticism. He's a lefty, which makes him really unique as a perimeter player. He's got good size. He’s a really good two-way player, but he can already shoot the 3, handle the ball, finish above the rim.

"There’s a lot of things to really like about him. We love his talent, but we're more excited about his character and how he's going to fit into our program.�

Blind faith

Norfolk State lost all five starters and its top nine scorers from its NCAA Tournament team last season and yet was still picked to win the conference by Blue Ribbon Yearbook, CBS Sports and in the conference’s official poll, which is voted on by coaches and team publicists.

Spartans coach Jones says his program has “tricked� voters into thinking its an automatic thing but that he’s also taking it as a compliment to his former players.

“It's crazy,� he said. “Actually having only 5% of our scoring returning and for them to say that we're going to win the conference again? It’s actually crazy. But it’s a credit to everybody that's come before these guys.

“That's what we try to tell them: It's not because of you guys, per se. It's because of the tradition. People just expect us to win the conference at this point and we have won a lot. But we don’t win the conference every year.�

Numbers game

3: Tobe Awaka’s national rank in both offensive (23.8) and defensive (36.4) rebounding percentage as calculated by Kenpom.

75: Percent of MEAC games won by Norfolk State under Jones, who is in his 13th season.

15,703: Air miles Norfolk State is traveling during the 10-game road swing that it will begin Saturday, according to the Virginian-Pilot.

— Bruce Pascoe