In a scrappy early-season battle between a pair of college basketball juggernauts, Koa Peat continued to put the rest of the NCAA on notice in a statement 71-67 Arizona win over No. 3 UConn with something you can’t teach: pure athleticism.
With a narrow 31-30 lead and under three minutes remaining in the first half against UConn on Wednesday, Peat jumped into a pile of Huskies following a short-range miss by senior Jaden Bradley.
When Peat’s first volleyball-like tap with his left hand didn’t find the bucket, he quickly leaped up once more and finished with his right.
ATHLETE pic.twitter.com/VDYJfaUciB
— Arizona Basketball (@ArizonaMBB) November 20, 2025
After coming down with four offensive rebounds in the first half, Peat finished with five (a team-high) and had 12 total rebounds to go with his 16 points on 7-of-14 shooting.
He also added three assists and two blocks.
Who knew @kpeat10 was also a big time volleyball player 🤷♂️ pic.twitter.com/d51KRbmYzT
— Arizona Basketball (@ArizonaMBB) November 20, 2025
Peat managed to do all his damage while committing only two fouls, a luxury that the Wildcats will need to find ways to keep in order to achieve their biggest aspirations when March rolls around.
Arizona pushed its lead to as high as 13 (53-40) after a 10-2 scoring run in the first six minutes of the second half before UConn responded with a 7-0 burst and eventually took its first lead since 22-21 at 62-60.
Motiejus Krivas, who had nine points on 4-of-6 shooting and 14 rebounds, came up with a huge bucket after collecting a missed shot off the floor to regain the advantage late and Bradley drove in the paint for a pretty layup and a three-point edge, 67-64.
Huskies’ Eric Reibe watched his own layup through contact dangle and fall off the rim with under 10 seconds to play and couldn’t hit either free throw to leave the game’s balance up to Tobe Awaka, who iced things with four made at the line.
According to ESPN’s Jeff Borzello, the Wildcats became just the third team in the AP poll era to rack up multiple wins against top-three teams in their first five games of the season — 93-87 win over No. 3 Florida in season opener being the other.
No. 4 Arizona improved to 5-0 in its first true road contest this season and will return home on Monday against Denver (1-3).
