Miller has fretted often this season about his team’s second-half defensive lapses, no more so than after the Wildcats allowed USC to shoot 50 percent in the second half last week and cut a 23-point lead down to three.
Miller has blamed a lot of that trouble for having his understaffed rotation wear out down the stretch. The Wildcats also haven’t had any room for error with foul trouble, Markkanen’s foul-out against Butler on Nov. 25 possibly costing them a 69-65 loss.
“We can play through foul trouble a little bit better and I think we can hold our team to the highest level of effort,” Miller said. “You can’t help but wear down when you’re playing very hard in these types of games. We can guard against that that much better.
"I sense we have a jolt of energy. And at this time of year, when you tend to lose players, we’re lucky to have one back. We have to take advantage of that.”
