Tucson Standard

On Thursday night, the storied Arizona Wildcats men's basketball team made history by having three players selected in the first 33 overall picks of the NBA Draft for the first time in program history.

 The Indiana Pacers selected Bennedict Mathurin with the sixth overall pick while the Chicago Bulls picked Dalen Terry with the 18th overall pick and the Toronto Raptors took Christian Koloko with the third pick of the second round (33rd overall).

 See below for more notes on each pick as well as general notes on the draft:

 Bennedict Mathurin – 6th overall (Indiana Pacers)

• Highest Arizona selection in the draft since Deandre Ayton went first overall in 2018
• 76th overall NBA Draft Pick from University of Arizona
• 26th First Round selection in Arizona history
• Sixth Arizona player to be selected in the top six of the NBA Draft
  • Ayton – No. 1 in 2018
  • Aaron Gordon – No. 4 in 2014
  • Derrick Williams – No. 2 in 2011
  • Mike Bibby – No. 2 in 1998
  • Sean Elliott – No. 3 in 1989
• Highest-ever NBA Draft pick from Montreal, surpassing the previous best of 16th overall by Bill Wennington in 1985.
• Mathurin and is the fourth Arizona player to be drafted by the Indiana Pacers, joining Solomon Hill in 2013, Jerryd Bayless in 2011 and Michael Foster in 1970.
• Mathurin becomes the fifth Canadian to be selected in the top-6 of an NBA Draft, joining 1st Anthony Bennett (first, 2013), Andrew Wiggins (first, 2014), RJ Barrett (third, 2019) and Tristan Thompson (fourth, 2011).

 Dalen Terry – 18th overall (Chicago Bulls)

• First player in Arizona history to be drafted by the Chicago Bulls
• 77th overall NBA Draft Pick from the University of Arizona
• 27th First round selection in NBA history
• 22nd Arizona player to be taken in the top 18 of the draft

 Christian Koloko – 33rd Overall (Toronto Raptors)

• 78th overall NBA Draft Pick from the University of Arizona
• Joins Damon Stoudamire (1995) as the only Arizona players selected by the Toronto Raptors

 General Draft Notes

• Mathurin and Terry become the fifth set of teammates from Arizona to be selected in the first round of the same draft.
  • Bennedict Mathurin & Dalen Terry in 2022
  • Josh Green & Zeke Nnaji in 2020
  • Stanley Johnson & Rondae Hollis-Jefferson in 2015
  • Mike Bibby & Michael Dickerson in 1998
  • Sean Elliott & Anthony Cook in 1989
• Mathurin (6th) and Terry (18th) give Arizona two of the top 18 draft picks in the same draft for the first time since 1998 (Bibby – 2nd, Dickerson – 14th)
• For the first time in program history, the Wildcats had three of the first 33 picks in the NBA Draft
• Tonight marks the seventh time that Arizona has had at least three players taken in the NBA Draft, and the second time in the last three years (1971, 1977, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2020, 2022)
• The last time a first-time head coach had three players selected in the NBA Draft following his first season as coach was Bill Guthridge at North Carolina in 1998.
• Three players from the Pac-12 were selected in the first round and Arizona had two of them.

_{Source: https://arizonawildcats.com/news/2022/6/23/mens-basketball-mathurin-terry-koloko-make-history-on-nba-draft-night.aspx}