Ranked No. 13 in the preseason, Arizona jumped all the way to No. 5 in the first weekly after opening the season with wins over defending national champion Florida and Utah Tech.
Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd cheers during the first half against Florida, Monday, Nov. 3, 2025, in Las Vegas.
Houston moved up to No. 1, and was followed by Purdue, UConn and Duke above the Wildcats. Purdue actually had twice as many first-place votes (36) as Houston (18) but the Cougars edged the Boilermakers out by three points in overall voting among the 61 media voters.
Even with Florida dropping from No. 3 to No. 10 after the Gators lost 93-87 to ÃÛÌÒÓ°ÏñAV on Nov. 3 in Las Vegas, the Wildcats still have five Top 10 teams and 10 Top 25 teams overall on their schedule.
Arizona also has two more chances to keep moving up in the poll, with games scheduled Friday against No. 15 UCLA at Los Angeles' Intuit Dome and on Nov. 19 at No. 3 UConn.Â
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Other ranked future opponents for the Wildcats this season include top-ranked Houston, No. 7 BYU, No. 8 Alabama, No. 11 Texas Tech, No. 16 Iowa State, No. 22 Auburn and No. 25 Kansas.Â
The Wildcats (2-0) are scheduled to host NAU (1-1) on Tuesday at McKale Center.
FWIW, I had Arizona at No. 6 on , behind Purdue, Houston, Duke, UConn and BYU, which was also ahead of the Wildcats on my preseason ballot.
Contact sports reporter Bruce Pascoe at bpascoe@tucson.com. On X(Twitter): @brucepascoe
Bruce Pascoe
Reporter
