Anthony Dell’Orso’s hot shooting leads Arizona to win over UCLA

Anthony Dell’Orso’s first-half shooting and clutch shot-making down the stretch led Arizona to a 69-65 win over UCLA at the Hall of Fame Classic at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California on Friday.

Dell’Orso scored 13 of Arizona’s 28 points in the first half and kept the fifth-ranked Wildcats in the game as the rest of Arizona’s offense struggled.

An early 9-0 UCLA run gave the No. 15 Bruins a 15-5 lead, but from that point on, the Wildcats outscored the Bruins 23-10 the rest of the first half, including 10 points that came from Dell’Orso during that stretch.

The senior from Melbourne, Australia, shot 5-for-8 in the first half as the rest of his team shot 6-for-22 from the field.

Dell’Orso finished the game with 20 points on 6-for-11 shooting in 28 minutes off the bench.

He comes from a Land Down Under🐨

Anthony Dell’Orso POPPED OFF vs. #15 UCLA

🔺20 Points
🔺4 3 PTers
🔺3 Assists
🔺Top 25 Ranked Road DUB#Big12MBB | @ArizonaMBB pic.twitter.com/nX2jbEycYa

— Big 12 Studios (@big12studios) November 15, 2025

Dell’Orso got off to a slower start in the second half and did not have a field goal until just under three minutes remained in the game, but his first bucket of the second half could not have come at a bigger time.

After the Bruins took a six-point lead with 5:26 to play, the Wildcats rattled off a 7-0 run with Dell’Orso hitting the go-ahead 3-pointer with 2:54 left. It was the Wildcats’ first triple of the second half.

Both teams then traded baskets and exchanged the lead before Jaden Bradley’s go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:23 remaining gave the Wildcats a lead they wouldn’t relinquish, as Arizona ended up finishing the game on a 16-6 run.

Bradley made another layup down the stretch and Dell’Orso sank a pair of free throws with 17 ticks remaining to give the Wildcats a four-point lead to seal the win for Arizona. Dell’Orso has now made 32 straight free throws dating back to last season.

Bradley was quiet in the first half and had just two points and only three field goal attempts at the break, but the senior point guard finished 5-for-6 from the field to end his night with 15 points on 6-for-10 shooting.

Motiejus Krivas added 10 points for Arizona, while Tobe Awaka finished with eight points for the Wildcats.

Arizona’s freshmen struggle in win over UCLA

Arizona’s four freshmen all struggled and were largely responsible for the Wildcats’ slow start. Arizona tallied 15 turnovers and 12 of them were from the freshmen, including all eight of the Wildcats’ first-half turnovers.

Dwayne Aristode, Brayden Burries, Ivan Kharchenkov and Koa Peat combined to score 16 points on 5-for-18 shooting. Burries struggled the most by shooting 1-for-9 and 1-for-6 from 3, while Peat found himself battling foul trouble and had just seven points in 21 minutes.

As sloppy as Arizona was, UCLA had its problems with turning the ball over just as much, and the Wildcats were able to take advantage and get out and run.

The Wildcats had 22 points off 16 UCLA turnovers and nearly doubled up UCLA in points in the paint (38 to 22). Arizona tried to play with pace and aggression while UCLA looked to slow the game down.

Next up, Arizona continues its tough nonconference schedule and faces a trip to Storrs to take on No. 3 UConn on Wednesday.

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