The Red-Blue Showcase is, first and foremost, a fan event. Call it Meet the Team with a little basketball thrown in for good measure. The results have no bearing on anything, nor do the performances.

That was Tommy Lloyd’s message after a 20-minute exhibition that saw Team Red rally in the second half to beat Team Blue 47-44 on Friday night at McKale Center. Caleb Love led Red, which featured four of Arizona’s top returning scholarship players, with 19 points including the go-ahead 3-pointer with 2:55 left, while Campbell transfer Anthony Dell’Orso had 15 for a Blue roster that featured four of the Wildcats’ five newcomers.

“I literally had nothing to do with that,” Lloyd said of the rosters. “That was all (assistant coach) Jack Murphy. I love my staff and give them a ton of freedom, so whatever they felt was comfortable with I was gonna go with it.”

Lloyd said the exhibition was the “longest extended scrimmage” Arizona has had since preseason practice officially began on Sept. 23. He said the game was most helpful for seeing his players building habits and getting comfortable with the pace and style of play, particularly for the newer players, but that no definitive decisions about rotations or playing time would come from it.

“I told our guys, no matter what happens today in the Red-Blue game, whether you play great, your team wins, you play bad, your team loses, it’s going to probably have no impact on our journey as a team this season, or your journey as a player,” Lloyd said. “We practice tomorrow. I can’t wait. We’re going to tape up and and we’re going to get after it like a normal day.”

Ahead of the scrimmage were a 3-point contest and a dunk contest. Love beat freshman Carter Bryant in the finals, hitting the last moneyball just before the buzzer to win 17-16.

“I had to make it interesting,” said Love, the reigning Pac-12 Player of the Year who like fellow UA guards Jaden Bradley and KJ Lewis tested the NBA Draft waters last spring before coming back for a second season in Tucson.

Bryant, a 5-star prospect who committed to the UA almost 18 months ago, also competed in the dunk contest and ended up beating out defending champ Lewis in the finals. He said this was the fifth Red-Blue game he’s been to, including ones as a recruit and when his father got him tickets one year for his birthday.

“This is surreal for me,” Bryant said. “For me to finally have the opportunity to compete in a Red-Blue game, it’s awesome.”

The only scholarship player not to participate Friday was sophomore center Henri Veesaar, who is dealing with a lower body injury that has kept him out of practice recently. Lloyd said there was no need to “throw him out there” for a scrimmage.

“It’s no secret, if we were in the midst of games he’d be available to play,” Lloyd said.

Arizona’s first competition against another team comes Oct. 21 at home against Eastern New Mexico, the first of two exhibitions. The 2024-25 season begins Nov. 4 at McKale against Canisius.

Call it a letdown. Call it an unusual start time. Or just call it a poor outing. If Arizona volleyball had a great start against No. 20 BYU on Wednesday night, it was just as slow on early Friday afternoon. Utah dominated almost every facet of the game in a 3-0 (25-13, 25-23, 27-25) victory.

The loss may have been a letdown after the thrilling win over a ranked opponent less than 48 hours before, but Arizona head coach Rita Stubbs had one message for her team after it was over.

“That we were still a family, that we were still one, and we’re all in this all together,” she said.

The noon start time was to accommodate Arizona men’s basketball’s Red-Blue game on Friday evening. The Wildcats invited local kids to the match for their first kids’ day.

The crowd eventually filled McKale Center to its usual degree, but it took a while for everyone to straggle in. The full crowd wasn’t in their seats until about 30 minutes after the match started.

Maybe that was for the best. Arizona played Utah close until 14-13 in the opening set, although the Wildcats struggled on the attack throughout the first. They didn’t score again and ended the set with just five kills. The Utes went on an 11-0 run to take the 1-0 lead in the match.

“They had a scouting report against us, and they came out and did it,” Stubbs said. “And we tried to hit around the block too often. They made sure that our middles did not get good swinging opportunities.”

The Utes’ domination wasn’t just in the first set. While Arizona made it close in the 25-23 second set, the stats were wildly in Utah’s favor throughout the match. The Wildcats did get two set points in the final set, but they couldn’t convert. Utah put away its first match point.

The Utes were superior in almost every statistical category. They had 50 kills to the Wildcats’ 38. They hit .364 compared to UA’s .259. They had 11 aces versus four for the home team. Their 53 digs outpaced Arizona’s 42. The lone category the Wildcats won was blocks with 7.0 compared to 4.0, but they also had more blocking errors (2 to 0).

All of that played into the loss, but serve receive was the Wildcats’ biggest problem.

“It was bad,” Stubbs said. “There’s no ‘kinda’ about it.”

Both freshman outside hitter Carlie Cisneros and freshman libero Brenna Ginder struggled in serve receive. Arizona was aced 11 times. Cisneros took five of the receiving errors and both Ginder and defensive specialist Haven Wray took two.

“That was the first time we’ve seen Carlie struggle in serve receive, and that’s her thing, so what was her mindset?” Stubbs said. “Unfortunately, we never know how she’s going to handle or adapt to something that you’ve never seen. So, there was no blame to be placed in any particular area but the serve and pass game we lost.”

Fifth-year opposite Jaelyn Hodge tried to find ways to help her rookie teammate through it.

“I think just taking more court in the back row—she’s fine on defense—and just helping take more serve receive and telling her what shots are open,” Hodge said. “I know if you struggle in one thing, it kind of leaves your mind struggling in different areas.”

While the other two pins continued to struggle scoring after the opening set, Hodge got things going as the match progressed. She had her second straight great match and the third quality outing in the last four. She finished with 18 kills on .400 hitting. She also had a block assist and an ace for 19.5 points.

“Pleased with Jae,” Stubbs said. “She took the team and she said, ‘I’m gonna take the team and put them on my back and then carry them.’ She was 18 (kills) four (errors) for 35 (attempts), and it was two matches back to back where she played top-notch volleyball so very happy with her.”

If there was anything Hodge struggled with it was serving. While she had the ace, she also had two service errors. Late in the match, Stubbs began sending defensive specialist Giorgia Mandotti in to serve for Hodge.

It was nothing specific to Hodge, though. As a team, the Wildcats didn’t serve as strong as Stubbs would have wanted. It reminded her of the Baylor match in that regard.

“I don’t know that it was the (Utah) offense as much as the fact that we did not serve very tough so they were able to run whatever they wanted to run,” Stubbs said. “That is the second match that’s very vivid in my head that they’ve been able to just run the middle at us because we didn’t serve very well. So any time a team can run the middle as easily as they were in the middle, it means you didn’t serve well.”

Stubbs tried personnel changes to get Arizona on the right track, including using Mandotti to serve. Late in the first set, she played two defensive specialists and the libero in the back row, removing both Hodge and Wilson from the match. In the second set, she sent junior setter Ana Heath in for freshman Avery Scoggins, but she had to go back to Scoggins in the final set when Heath got hurt.

“Hopefully she’s all right,” Stubbs said. “She hurt her ankle a little bit, but nonetheless, it was nice to see that you can pull someone off the bench, and go in and make a difference out there…She probably would have stayed out there had she not hurt her ankle.”

If Heath is out for any length of time, she would join backup OH/OPP Sydnie Vanek and DS Ava Tortorello both of whom have been out for a few weeks. Stubbs said on Tuesday that she expected Tortorello to be out for a while still, but Vanek might be back sooner.

Whoever is available will be taking on Arizona’s fifth straight opponent that is either ranked or receiving votes in the AVCA poll when they travel to play No. 15 ASU on Wednesday. Utah is the only unranked team the Wildcats have played since the Big 12 schedule started, but the Utes are receiving votes from the coaches.

Lead photo by Reagan Helfer / Arizona Athletics

Arizona Cardinals safety Budda Baker isn’t worried about trade speculation as he plays into the final year of his contract with the team.

“I don’t really see any of that type of stuff,” Baker told reporters this week.

“You know me. I’m just focused on San Francisco, just focused on the game ahead and if that happens Monti (Ossenfort) will hopefully let me know, but I don’t think it’s gonna happen.

“For me personally, I don’t really base my information on social media and stuff like that. What people say, even PFF, I don’t base anything off of that and I kind of just live in the present. Be where your feet are.

“I’m here. Had a great Thursday practice. Excited to go in there and get my lift in. Watch the film on what we could have done better today and ultimately get ready for tomorrow.”

Baker publicly demanded a trade in the 2023 offseason after the Cardinals refused to make him one of the highest paid players at his position.

Rather, right at the start of training camp, Ossenfort re-worked Baker’s deal to supplement more guaranteed money but ultimately didn’t extend the star safety’s contract in terms of years.

Now, Baker could depart via free agency at the end of the season.

That’s where the trade speculation picks up, at least online. Would the 1-3 Cardinals want to get something in exchange for Baker rather than risk losing him for nothing? Does Baker himself get tired of losing and want to play for a contender?

Baker’s been the face of the franchise for many years, so seeing him depart would be bittersweet, though he’ll be 29 years old next offseason and he’s likely looking to cash out on one final contract.

The NFL’s trade deadline is Tuesday, Nov. 5.

Make sure to bookmark Cardinals On SI for the latest news, exclusive interviews, film breakdowns and so much more.

Cardinals vs 49ers Thursday Injury Report

Cardinals Know Just How Dangerous 49ers Are

Davante Adams Could Head to NFC West

Why Cardinals Fans Need to Remain Optimistic