No. 22 UCLA opened the men’s college basketball season with an 84-75 victory over No. 5 Arizona in a nonconference matchup Monday at the TNT Sports Hall of Fame Series in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The Bruins’ win came against an Arizona team that finished as the NCAA Division I runner-up last season. UCLA advanced to the second round of last year’s NCAA tournament before its season ended.
Perry leads UCLA’s offense
Junior guard Trent Perry scored 21 points to lead UCLA. He made all 11 of his free-throw attempts, helping offset a difficult shooting performance from the field in which he made 33% of his shots.
Jaylen Petty and Eric Dailey Jr. each added 13 points for the Bruins. Petty, a transfer from Texas Tech, was one of UCLA’s newcomers to make an impact in the opener.
Freshman Nikola Kusturica, who came to UCLA from FC Barcelona, contributed nine points and five rebounds. The Serbian prospect was among the new players involved in the Bruins’ first victory of the season.
- UCLA: 84 points, led by Trent Perry’s 21
- Arizona: 75 points, led by Ivan Kharchenkov’s 38
- Margin: UCLA won by nine points
Kharchenkov carries Arizona
Arizona sophomore Ivan Kharchenkov scored 38 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in the loss. He shot 60% from the field, producing a strong individual performance after scoring six points in Arizona’s national championship loss last season.
Derek Dixon, a transfer from North Carolina, scored 18 points for the Wildcats. Arizona also had contributions from Kharchenkov and Dixon, but the production was not enough to overcome UCLA’s balanced scoring.
Arizona’s starters Bryce James and Caleb Holt struggled from the field. James went 0-for-3, while Holt, identified as a potential No. 1 overall NBA draft pick, went 2-for-7. The Arizona bench was outscored 20-4.
Rivalry resumes outside conference play
The matchup continued a long-running rivalry between the programs that began when UCLA and Arizona were members of the Pac-10. The teams now met in a nonconference game after separating conferences in 2024.
UCLA has now defeated Arizona twice since that conference change. The latest result was the widest margin between the teams since 2024; the previous two meetings during that span were decided by three points and four points.
For UCLA, the victory supplied an immediate top-five result behind Perry’s free-throw shooting, contributions from two transfers and a debut from Kusturica. Arizona left the opening-day matchup with a 38-point performance from Kharchenkov but an early defeat against a ranked conference rival.
