Arizona men’s basketball Red-Blue scrimmage set for Sept. 29

Arizona played the first of three exhibition games on its international tour on Monday morning, crushing the Israel Select Team 124-77 in Tel Aviv. It will face much tougher competition in the other two games, set for later this week in Abu Dhabi, before returning to Tucson just in time for the start of the fall semester.

And a little more than a month later, the annual Red-Blue scrimmage will be here to mark the unofficial start of the 2023-24 season.

The intrasquad contest will be played Sept. 29 at 7:30 p.m. PT at McKale Center, an event that will feature player and coach introductions, skills competitions (including a dunk contest) and the scrimmage itself. It will be the same weekend as the UA football team’s final Pac-12 home opener, Sept. 30 against Washington.

Last season saw Oumar Ballo and Henri Veesaar each score 16 points in the exhibition after a star-studded group of former Wildcats, including Rawle Alkins, Deandre Ayton, Lauri Markkanen, Richard Jefferson, Jason Terry and AJ Bramlett, judged the dunk contest.

Tickets for the Red-Blue scrimmage will go on sale Aug. 19.