Athletic perfection: Arizona football, men’s and women’s basketball teams go unbeaten in November

It was a November to remember for Arizona Athletics, which just completed arguably one of the most successful months in school history.

Home wins Saturday by the UA men’s basketball team over Norfolk State and the women’s basketball squad against Cal State Bakersfield, combined with Friday night’s football win in the Territorial Cup in Tempe, finished off a perfect November for the three major spots. It’s the first time in school history all three went unbeaten in the same month.

Arizona football went 5-0 in November for the first time in history, with three of those games coming on the road and two against ranked opponents. The UA men’s basketball team went 7-0, including a trio of wins over ranked foes to help it climb to No. 2 in the Associated Press poll. And first-year coach Becky Burke has the Wildcat women’s basketball team off to a 6-0 start.

“I think it’s great, I’m really proud of my colleagues and the success they’re having,” men’s basketball coach Tommy Lloyd said. “There’s a lot of work behind the scenes with our administration to make these things happen.”

How rare is it to go unbeaten over an entire month in all three sports? According to Stats Inc., it’s only happened three other times since 2021 with another possible this month.

Indiana has gone 4-0 in football and 7-0 in both men’s and women’s hoops, but the Hoosier women have another game on Sunday. Last year Vanderbilt did it in December, though that only meant one win for the Commodores’ football team, while in 2021 both BYU and Iowa pulled it off.

The combined 18 wins by Arizona’s trio are the most by any school in a month without a loss over the last five years. If Indiana women’s basketball wins Sunday if will give that school’s trio 19 victories.

Though the UA men’s basketball needed to beat three Top 15 teams to go perfect in November, including Top 3 wins over defending national champion Florida and at UConn, making it through the first month isn’t new. It’s the fourth time in five seasons Lloyd has not lost in November.

Same with women’s basketball, which under previous coach Adia Barnes had perfect opening months in four straight seasons from 2019-23. This is a whole new team and coaching staff, though, with Burke managing to guide the squad through a half dozen victories at McKale Center.

“I think a lot of times, athletic departments have a lot of success, and the head coaches and the players get a lot of credit,” Burke said. “We have tremendous leadership here at the University of Arizona. We need to take a moment and recognize what Desiree (Reed-Francois) has done here in this athletic department, because we’re rolling right now because of her leadership and and the momentum she’s created here.”

But no one could have predicted Arizona football would make it through November without a loss, especially with only two home games, a cross-country trip to Cincinnati and the rivalry game against ASU. The 2023 team went 4-0 in November en route to just the fourth 10-win season in school history, but after Jedd Fisch left for Washington his replacement Brent Brennan struggled to a 4-8 record last year and expectations for this fall were tempered.

A 5-game win streak later and Brennan, along with wife Courtney, got a standing ovation during the men’s basketball game on Saturday afternoon.

“Obviously, really happy for Brent,” Lloyd said. “He’s a good friend of mine, and he’s just a great guy, and I know he’s been through a lot, and to see him come out on top just really says something about his character, him as a man. So just really proud of him and what he’s done.”

All told, the UA football, men’s and women’s basketball teams played 820 minutes and trailed for just over 193 minutes. Football trailed at the half in the last four games, while men’s basketball was down double digits to both Florida and UCLA and women’s basketball was behind at least once in every game.

As great as those teams successes were, none of them resulted in a championship, at least yet. But Arizona did win another national title in November from the triathlon team, which defending its crown earlier in the month.