Koa Peat injury update: Arizona announces freshman star sidelined at least a week

The Arizona basketball team announced some significant news on Tuesday night. Star freshman Koa Peat is expected to miss at least the next two games with a muscle strain “in his lower leg area.”

Peat is averaging 13.8 points, 5.4 rebounds and 2.6 assists per contest, so any time he misses will be a big deal for the Wildcats. The program released a short statement on Twitter.

“Koa Peat has a muscle strain in his lower leg area,” Arizona wrote on Twitter. “He will be re-evaluated next week and will return to the court when cleared by the medical staff.”

Peat was limited to just 11 minutes in the team’s 78-75 overtime loss to Texas Tech on Saturday. He scored two points and pulled down one rebound in the loss.

That was the quietest outing of the year for the freshman, who has been a superstar since Day 1 at Arizona. It came on the heels of another subpar outing in a loss to Kansas the game prior.

In that loss to the Jayhawks, Koa Peat scored six points and pulled down five boards, shooting just 2-of-11 from the floor. He did add three assists and two rebounds.

Prior to those two games, Koa Peat had been in double-figure scoring in 13 of the previous 14 games. He had turned in double-doubles in three of those contests.

Arizona is slated to face No. 23 BYU and fellow freshman phenom AJ Dybantsa on Wednesday night. It will then take on No. 2 Houston on the road on Saturday. Not having Peat for those contests will certainly sting.

As a recruit, Koa Peat was ranked as a Five Star Plus+ prospect in the 2025 recruiting class, according to the Rivals Industry Rankings. He checked in as the No. 8 overall player in the class, the No. 4 power forward and the top player in the state of Arizona, hailing from Gilbert (AZ) Perry.