Arizona forward Koa Peat, a projected first-round pick, is keeping his name in the NBA draft, sources told ESPN on Wednesday.
Peat had left his options open for a potential return to Tucson, but his focus remained on the draft over the past two months, and he officially closed the door on college Wednesday.
The 6-foot-8 freshman is No. 27 in ESPN's most recent mock draft.
Peat, a former top-10 recruit in the 2025 class who won four state championships at the high school level and three gold medals with USA Basketball, opened his college career with 30 points, seven rebounds and five assists in a win over then-reigning champion Florida back in November. That would turn out to be his season high in scoring, as he finished with averages of 14.1 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.6 assists while helping lead Arizona to the Big 12 regular-season and conference championships and earning third-team All-Big 12 honors.
Peat was terrific during the NCAA tournament, averaging 17.2 points and 7.6 rebounds in five games, showing the aggressiveness and productivity that made him such a sought-after recruit. He had 21 points in a blowout win over Arkansas, 20 points in the Elite Eight win over Purdue and then posted 16 points and 11 rebounds in the Final Four loss to Michigan.
The Chandler, Arizona, native was one of the more notable talking points at the NBA draft combine in Chicago earlier this month. Although he tested very well athletically, including a 34.5-inch standing vertical leap (sixth among all players), Peat struggled shooting the ball. He shot 6-for-25 in the spot-up drill and 7-for-25 in the 3-point star drill, the second-worst combined performance in those two drills.
His jumper also looked markedly different than it did during the season at Arizona, with a slower motion and much lower release point.
"Just trying to work on that as much as I can, trying to shoot the ball the same way every time," Peat told ESPN at the combine. "Trying to eliminate misses left and right, trying to miss long or short. Trying to focus on that. Not getting too consumed about it because I can do a lot of other things that affect the game, but I'm trying to work on that ... I feel like that breakthrough is going to come soon."
With Peat's departure, Tommy Lloyd now has a large hole in his projected starting lineup. Arizona already lost its starting backcourt of lottery pick Brayden Burries and Big 12 Player of the Year Jaden Bradley, but Lloyd replaced that duo with incoming transfers Derek Dixon (North Carolina) and JJ Mandaquit (Washington), as well as top-five recruit Caleb Holt.
Up front, starters Ivan Kharchenkov and Motiejus Krivas -- both projected NBA draft picks -- are back, opting to not even test the draft waters. But the Wildcats now need an impact starter next to Kharchenkov and Krivas. They've been monitoring Iowa State transfer Milan Momcilovic as a potential target for multiple weeks.