TUCSON, Ariz. — After the University of Arizona men’s basketball team lost to the University of Southern California, after the fans stopped throwing bottles on the court and even after the frustrated fans had left the arena, the real battle began.

Following a game, almost instantly, a rag-tag team descends on the arena, cleaning the stands row-by-row, a process that UA assistant athletic director Suzy Mason said takes about six hours after a men's hoops game.

This group includes people with the university’s custodial service, people hired through the employment service, Employment Hotline, and a group of soccer players and parents from the Tucson Soccer Academy, an under-18 youth soccer league.

“I think every single game has been covered by our teams,” said Rob Culver, a parent with the soccer group.

Culver said the teams are paid about $600 a game to come in afterward and pick up big things such as bottles, pizza boxes and trays.

The teams have their work cut out for them, with nearly every row containing left-behind cups, pizzas boxes and popcorn buckets.

“It seems like a lot of food goes to waste,” said Emily Shuta, a soccer player with the academy. "A lot of stuff is half-eaten."

One of the other cleaning crew members, Ryan Kenney from Employment Hotline, suggested the left-behind trash was due to a lack of effort of the part of the fans.

“There’s no trash can in eye view, so [they’ll] just set it here,” he said.

The process can be exhausting, with lots of space to cover, lots of seats to reach under and increasingly heavy bags to carry around.

“It’s difficult on your back,” said soccer parent Chris Flint.

The large amount of trash can also be hard on the senses — “For me, it’s the smell of mustard and coffee,” Culver said.

With all this waste to clean up after a game, is there any recycling of the dozens of bottles and paper materials left behind?

“No, [we] just throw it in the bag and leave,” Flint said.

James McKenzie, who has been with the university’s custodial services for 28 years, has seen it all while cleaning up after games, calling it not a part-time or full-time job, but an overtime job. McKenzie has a different philosophy when it comes to the bags upon bags of trash left after a game.

“I’m not gonna say it’s waste necessarily, it’s a waste that can’t be helped,” McKenzie said.

Some crowds leave very little trash behind, while other crowds are very wasteful, he added.

The women’s basketball games are among the least wasteful, McKenzie said, while the most wasteful events have been when McKale Center has played host to the opening rounds of the men’s basketball NCAA Tournament.

McKenzie said when it comes down to who’s the messiest at games, students and older fans contribute to the mess differently.

“Their area is usually the dirtiest, but not the wasteful-est,” McKenzie said of the student section. “But they eat a lot more, and consume.”

But the older crowd still does their part in trashing McKale.

“They’ll buy popcorn, and half is still there,” McKenzie said.

The common courtesy of picking up one’s own trash doesn’t seem that prevalent when surveying McKale after a game. After working three games this season, Culver had one question for fans who hurry for the exits with empty hands, leaving behind a sea of peanuts, popcorn and Zona Screw fliers.

“Why can’t you drop it off on the way out?” Culver asked.