Ranking every Arizona Wildcats Basketball rivalry

The University of Arizona has more than a century of athletics history under its belt, which means there has been plenty of time to form multiple rivalries across various sports.

Everyone knows about the vitriol at all levels of the Arizona-ASU rivalry and how heated basketball gets against UCLA, but one historical rival is back on the schedule this year and another has fallen to the wayside. Let’s get into the ranking of each rivalry the Arizona Wildcats have on the basketball court.

Arizona and New Mexico first met on the hardwood in 1917, when both schools operated independent of any conference affiliations, and the Lobos beat the Wildcats by a score of 28-19 — yes, in a basketball game. Arizona proceeded to win the next eight meetings from 1919-24, and the series has heavily favored the Wildcats as time has passed.

In recent years, New Mexico has put forth a fight. Arizona is 6-4 in the last 10 matchups and just 3-3 in the last six meetings. Despite this, though, the Lobos and Wildcats haven’t faced each other since a home-and-home series that concluded in Albuquerque in the 2017-18 season where Arizona took home an 89-73 win.

With New Mexico nowhere on the slate this season for Arizona Basketball, this “rivalry” seems to be mostly confined to the football field — if at all. The days of the Border Conference are long gone, and Arizona has simply emerged as the stronger athletic power in modern times.