When UA signee Terrance Ferguson signed in Australia before his eligibility questions were addressed last summer, a noted shooter was taken off the Wildcats’ roster right away.
The Wildcats had Jackson-Cartwright returning from a sophomore season in which he led all Pac-12 players in 3-point percentage, but PJC’s shot slumped in the beginning of the season. He then he missed nearly a month with his high ankle sprain.
And in the past month, both Lauri Markkanen and Kobi Simmons have struggled from 3-point range while starting wings Rawle Alkins and Allonzo Trier generally continue to be their most productive when driving to the basket. Arizona made just 5 of 17 (29.4 percent) of its 3s at Oregon and Oregon State, and shot less than 40 percent from long-range against the Bay Area schools at home.
But Arizona hit 55.6 percent from 3 at Washington State and 43.8 percent at Washington, even though both Simmons and Markkanen missed both 3s they took.
Since UA’s win over UCLA, Simmons is shooting 33.3 percent from 3 and Markkanen is hitting 35.4 percent.
But Trier and Jackson-Cartwright have been offsetting factors. Trier went 4 of 5 from 3-point range in his return home to Seattle last Saturday, while Jackson-Cartwright was 7 of 10 between the two games in Washington after having made just 11 of 38 3s entering the weekend.
“His 3-point shooting has really returned back to form,” Miller said. “I’ve never really deviated in describing how well he shoots. I watch him every day. And I’ve never seen a shooter shoot the ball like he does daily in the spring, summer and fall and it not translate into the game. He got off to a bad start this season and getting hurt, it avalanched on him. But right now he’s shooting really really well.”
