There have been at least half a dozen times this season when Tommy Lloyd has been asked about Anthony Dell’Orso and if he’s concerned about the senior’s offensive struggles. And every time Lloyd has said he isn’t, and that Delly’s time will come.
It came on Wednesday night, when Arizona needed someone to step up for a big loss to the lineup.
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Dell’Orso scored 22 points, his most in two seasons in Tucson, to lead the 4th-ranked Wildcats to a 75-68 win over No. 23 BYU at McKale Center at ALKEME Arena. The win snapped a 2-game skid and moved Arizona (24-2, 11-2) into a tie with Houston for first place in the Big 12 ahead of Saturday’s showdown.
Ivan Kharchenkov had 18, Jaden Bradley had 12 points with 10 assists, matching his career high, and Brayden Burries for Arizona, which shot 45.3 percent and made 9 of 21 3-pointers. Dell’Orso was 4 of 8 from outside, Burries 3 of 7 and Kharchenkov 2 of 5 as the Wildcats scored more from the perimeter than the paint (26) for the first time this season.
The UA was also outscored in the paint for the first time in 2025-26.
BYU (19-7, 7-6) got 35 points from freshman AJ Dybantsa, but he needed 28 shots and only made 13. Robert Wright scored 13, down considerably from the 69 he had scored in the Cougars’ previous two games.
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The Cougars shot 43.1 percent and were 5 of 19 from 3 in their first game without Richie Saunders, who tore his ACL and is out for the season.
Arizona was down two rotation players, with Koa Peat out because of a leg strain and Dwayne Aristode missing his second game due to an illness. Tobe Awaka started for Peat but only had 3 points and 6 rebounds in 32 minutes, with he and Motiejus Krivas going 3 of 10 from the field.
The most efficient big for the UA was freshman Sidi Gueye, who had four points and four rebounds in a season-high 10 minutes. Gueye had only logged 15 minutes in Big 12 play entering the night.
Senior guard Evan Nelson also logged some minutes in the first half to help spell Arizona’s backcourt, though Bradley did play 38 minutes.
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The UA led 42-35 at halftime. The margin got up to 10 on consecutive baskets by Gueye, the first off an alley-oop fromBradley and the second on a putback, forcing BYU to call timeout down 53-43 with 13:39 left.
A long Bradley 2 made it 63-48 with 9:51 remaining. Arizona went more than three minutes without scoring yet BYU only got one basket before Dell’Orso drained his fourth 3 from the top of the key for a 66-50 edge.
Dybantsa scored 12 straight points for the Cougars before Keba Keita hit a jumper with 5:08 left, part of an 8-0 BYU run that got it within 69-61 with 3:19 remaining. Two Bradley free throws and a Kharchenkov dunk off a steal from Dybantsa got it back to a 12-point lead with 2:30 remaining only to see BYU make another push with some help from Arizona failing to inbounds and beat the press.
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A 7-0 run cut it to 73-68 with 1:05 to go, the closest the Cougars had been since the first half, and they had a chance to make it a 1-score game after Keita deniedBurries at the rim to start a runout. But Krivas strippedWrightto set up a game-icing dunk on the other end by Dell’Orso with 30.3 seconds remaining.
BYU led by four before Arizona ran off eight in a row, capped by aKrivas putback slam for an 18-14 lead with 10:21 left in the first half.Wright hit the Cougars’ first 3 with 8:07 left in the half to tie it at 21.
Back-to-back 3s byKharchenkov andBurries put the Wildcats up five, then a 3 byDell’Orso and aBradley score off anAwaka steal made it 39-33 UA with 42 seconds left before halftime.
Dell’Orso gave Arizona a 7-point lead at the break with a corner 3 on a baseline out-of-bounds play with 0.8 seconds left.
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Arizona wraps up its Big 12 gauntlet with a fourth consecutive ranked opponent on Saturday, visiting No. 2 Houston (23-3, 11-2). The Wildcats are 0-3 against the Cougars underLloyd, including in the 2022 Sweet 16 and last year’s Big 12 Tournament final.
