Position: Center
Class/Experience: Junior/Transfer from Wake Forest
Height: 7-1
Weight: 245
Hometown: St. Louis, Mo.
High School: Cardinal Ritter HS

General: A transfer to the University of Arizona from Wake Forest who sat out last season due to NCAA transfer rules... Played at WFU for two seasons and has two years of eligibility remaining at the UA... The Cats' tallest player since Ed Stokes (7-foot)... Shoots well and has great hands... Will help give Arizona one of the top front courts in the country... Lute Olson says he should be the best shot blocker the program has ever had... Runs the court extremely well for a player his size... An excellent addition to the highly-regarded incoming Arizona recruiting class... Has experience playing in McKale Center, as Wake Forest played in first and second round NCAA Tournament action in 1997... Scored seven points against St. Mary's in the Demon Deacon's first round win... Had four points in their second round loss to Stanford... Played for the NIT All Star Team this past summer in Austria and Czechoslovakia.

1997-98 (Sophomore): Averaged 8.8 ppg and a team-high 7.1 rpg at Wake Forest... Led the team with 50 blocks... Started the first 14 games of the season before taking a leave of absence� from the squad for seven contests... Returned to play in the final nine games of the year, but saw his playing time reduced during the latter portions of the schedule... Before his leave, he was second in the Atlantic Coast Conference in blocks and second in rebounding... Averaged 11.6 ppg and 8.5 rpg in the first 14 games... Led the team in scoring twice, scoring 17 points versus Navy and 21 against Richmond... Seven double-digit scoring games and four double-digit rebounding outings.

1996-97 (Freshman): Named a Freshman All-American by Basketball Times and was selected to the ACC All-Rookie team... Primarily served as a frontcourt reserve, but also started in 11 games... When he started, he averaged 8.2 ppg and 6.5 rpg... Played alongside 1997 National Player of the Year Tim Duncan... Overall, averaged 6.8 ppg and 5.2 in 30 games... Rebounding average was second only to Duncan... Was the ACC Rookie of the Week three times in December and January... Scored 22 points to go with eight rebounds and four blocks against Campbell... Finished fourth in the league in blocked shots (1.5 bpg)... Shot 48.3% from the field (71-147) and averaged 17.5 ppg... Led the team in rebounding once, with 11 against Florida State.

High School: A McDonald's All-American at Cardinal Ritter High School in St. Louis, Mo., after averaging 21.1 ppg, 13.2 rpg and 6.5 bpg as a senior...� Graduated in 1996 and played for head coach Preston Thomas... Led the team to back-to-back state 2A championships in 1995 & 1996... Team went 55-6 in those two seasons... Set school records for points (654) and rebounds (408) in a season in 1996... Single game records for points (43) and rebounds (27) as well... Had 501 blocked shots during his career... In one game as a sophomore, he had a quadruple-double, with 20 points, 11 rebounds, 11 assists and 15 blocks... In the McDonald's All-American game, had 12 points, eight rebounds and five blocks... Former UA Wildcat Mike Bibby played in that game as well... An honor roll student who was the editor of the school newspaper as a senior... Played baseball up until the ninth grade before deciding to concentrate on hoops... Was a first baseman and pitcher.

Personal: Loren G. Woods... Born 6-21-78 in St. Louis, Mo... Physical education major... Son of Colleen Woods... Mother graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with a degree in computer science... Has one younger brother, Victor, who preps at Ritenour High School... Family studies major... Attended the same high school as former Georgetown Hoya Jahidi White and Duke's Chris Carrawell... A big St. Louis Cardinal fan... Enjoys video games... A member of the 1997 Summer World University Games team that played in Sicily, Italy.

Woods' Career Statistics
(at Wake Forest)

Season   G-GS  Min   FG-FGA Pct. 3FG Pct.  FT-FTA Pct.  OR/DR  Tot/Avg Ast St. Blk TO PF-DQ Pts.-Avg.
1997-98 22-14  554   63-157 .401 0-0 .000  67-100 .670  52/105 157/7.1  19  8 50  37 50-1    194-8.8
1996-97 30-11  525   71-147 .483 0-0 .000  63-93  .677  48/109 157/5.2  16  7 45  43 34-0    205-6.8
Totals  52-25 1079 134-304  .440 0-0 .000 130-193 .673 100/214 314/6.0  35 15 95  80 84-1    399-7.7