Tommy Lloyd and the Arizona Wildcats unofficially opened the new college basketball season Friday night at McKale. In front of a sold-out crowd, Arizona held a 3-point contest, a dunk contest with famous alums serving as judges, and then a scrimmage to cap the annual Red-Blue Showcase.

Before the festivities began, Lloyd addressed the crowd with a promise.

“Every night I lay my head on that pillow I think about bringing you guys that championship we all want and deserve. I know it ain’t gonna be easy but I didn’t ask for it easy,” he said. “We had a great first two years and we had a tough last game. But that last game is gonna be the greatest gift that’s ever been given to me in coaching.”

The last game being referenced here is, of course, the first-round loss Arizona suffered to 15-seed Princeton back in March.

It was a shocking loss on a macro level, but not wholly unsurprising given the way Arizona had looked down the stretch. The Wildcats’ rotation had thinned, Lloyd thought the effort wasn’t good enough, and Arizona sorely missed the on-court leadership of Benn Mathurin.

Arizona went out this offseason hoping to build up its depth. The first look on Friday was promising.

Dylan Anderson, Filip Borovicanin, Kylan Boswell, and Caleb Love competed in the 3-point contest. Borovicanin won the competition over Love with a final-round score of 19.

Jaden Bradley, Keshad Johnson, Pelle Larsson, and KJ Lewis went off in the dunk contest. Lewis beat Johnson in the final with a score of 39/40.

The Blue team beat the Red team, 60-48, to end the night.

Oumar Ballo led all scorers with 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting. He also grabbed 10 rebounds, two blocks, and two steals. Caleb Love added 12 points and four assists on 4-of-13 shooting (2-6 3P) for the Blue team.

Keshad Johnson had 13 points to lead the Red team, connecting on five of his 12 shots and three of his eight triples. KJ Lewis added nine points, three rebounds, two assists, and two steals. Kylan Boswell had seven points, four assists, and three boards.

(The full box score can be found here.)

Arizona returns to the court for an exhibition game against Lewis-Clark State on October 20 at the McKale Center.