Arizona Wildcats basketball: Breaking down Sean Miller's mastery of rival Arizona State
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The Wildcats are 11-4 against rival Arizona State during Sean Miller's time at the helm of the program.
- Arizona Daily Star
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Final score: Arizona 77, Arizona State 58
Location: Wells Fargo Arena, Tempe
What went down: Arizona guard Kyle Fogg posted a game-high 21 points (5-10 FGs, 9-11 FTs), four rebounds and four assists while forward Derrick Williams dropped 20 points (7-10 FGs, 6-7 FTs) and grabbed six rebounds to end the Wildcats' five-game losing streak to ASU.
Miller's record against ASU: 1-0
Bruce Pascoe's game story:
TEMPE — That rugged nonconference schedule may have finally started to pay off Saturday for the Arizona Wildcats.
Playing their 10th game away from McKale Center, the Wildcats struggled early before rolling to a 77-58 win over ASU.
The victory broke a five-game losing streak to the Sun Devils, while improving UA's record to 10-9 overall and 4-3 in the Pac-10. The Wildcats will now get a crack at first place if they can sweep Stanford and California at home next week.
Their style wasn't pretty in the first half, when the Wildcats shot just 24 percent from the field, but they had a gritty, resilient style that UA coach Sean Miller has been looking for.
They also broke the Sun Devils' zone down with relative ease in the second half, creating many baskets in transition and shooting 75 percent after halftime.
"When you play 10 games away from home, it starts to work in your favor," Miller said. "Some of our younger guys are clearly more comfortable now playing on the road than they were."
Arizona was rattled early in the hostile Wells Fargo Arena atmosphere, but returned in the second half to show a thicker skin.
Not only did Kevin Parrom deliver a hard foul on ASU guard Ty Abbott that sent Parrom to the bench with technical and personal fouls that gave him five for the game, but forward Jamelle Horne also rebounded from an ineffective first half to score 11 in the second. He was talked to both by Miller at halftime and, on the bench during the second half, by assistant coach Book Richardson.
"I tried to tell him anything I could" to inspire him, Miller said.
Down 27-25 at halftime, the Wildcats went on a 13-0 run early in the second half and coasted after a tense period in the middle of the second half, when Parrom committed his hard foul and ASU coach Herb Sendek was assessed a technical foul.
Following several minutes of review and discussion by game officials, Parrom left with 8:35 to go after he tried to block Abbott from behind, reached over his head and pulled his forehead back.
Abbott made 1 of 2 ensuing free throws.
Three minutes later, Sendek was whistled for a technical foul when he argued with officials, and Nic Wise hit both free throws to give UA a 60-44 lead.
The Wildcats went on to take a 20-point lead, 67-47, when Horne made his third three-pointer.
"You can always say that" Parrom's foul inspired the team, Horne said. "But it definitely did help us. We don't want to hurt anybody but you can't give up easy baskets."
Parrom was not available for comment after the game.
Miller started Solomon Hill ahead of Horne in the second half. Horne went out of the game early while limping on his right foot, then returned.
Once he did get in, however, Horne warmed up. He hit a three-pointer to put UA up 34-29 with 14:25 left and later hit another to give the Wildcats a 52-39 lead with 7:40 left.
Horne finished with 11 points, while Kyle Fogg led all scorers with 21 points and Derrick Williams had 20 points and six rebounds. Wise, the only Wildcat to have beaten ASU before Saturday night, had 16 points and six assists.
Rihards Kuksiks led ASU with 15 points.
In the first half, Fogg scored eight points in the final five minutes, but the Wildcats' early shooting trouble still put them back 27-25 to ASU at halftime.
The Wildcats shot just 23.8 percent from the field and made only 2 of 11 three-pointers. ASU, however, wasn't much better at 28.6 percent, missing all four field goals it took on one first-half possession.
UA went on a 9-0 run to cut ASU's lead to 20-19 when Fogg hit two free throws with 4:18 left. Fogg later gave UA its first lead since the early minutes when he hit two free throws with 1:34 left to make it 25-24.
But Kuksiks hit 1 of 2 free throws with 1:06 left and Demetrius Walker hit two with 5.6 seconds left to give ASU the 27-25 lead entering halftime. UA had the five seconds to try a final shot but Wise drove inside and could not find a shot as time expired, passing to Fogg as the halftime buzzer sounded.
The Wildcats didn't score at the beginning of the game until Parrom knocked down a jumper with 18:00 left in the first half, but kept ASU scoreless for over three minutes. Derek Glasser scored the Sun Devils' first points with a layup at the 16:57, drawing a foul from Wise and converting the ensuing free throw.
But UA's poor shooting allowed ASU to build leads of 9-5 and 20-10 before Wise hit a pair of free throws with 7:14 left and Hill made an open three-pointer with 5:05 left to cut ASU's lead to five points.
At the media timeout with 7:14 left in the first half, UA had made just 3 of 17 shots from the field and only 1 of 9 three-pointers.
Three of UA's missed shots were air balls by Fogg, Horne and Parrom.
UA wore its red road uniforms for the second straight game, after wearing only blue for all previous road games.
Miller said Thursday the Wildcats would wear blue.
- Arizona Daily Star
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Final score: Arizona State 73, Arizona 69
Location: McKale Center, Tucson
What went down: Arizona's Nic Wise, Derrick Williams and Kyle Fogg combined for 46 of UA's 69 points, but the Wildcats couldn't edge out the Sun Devils in the end.
Miller's record against ASU: 1-1
Bruce Pascoe's game story:
It's all out the window now.
The Pac-10 title race, the slim hope of a 26th straight NCAA title berth, the momentum and swagger of late January, all appeared to become memories Sunday when Arizona lost 73-69 to ASU at McKale Center.
With 28 points on 11-for-17 shooting against the Wildcats' shaky defense, ASU guard Ty Abbott avenged a poor-shooting night and the infamous "no easy baskets" hard foul on him by UA's Kevin Parrom a month earlier during UA's 77-58 win in Tempe.
What's more, the Sun Devils collectively shot 67 percent from the field in the second half and scored 13 points off UA's 12 turnovers for the game, two of which came at particularly costly points late in the game.
The loss was Arizona's fourth in its past five games, dropping the Wildcats to 13-13 overall and 7-7 in the Pac-10, meaning the Wildcats will likely have to win the Pac-10 tournament to get in the NCAA tournament field.
"Our team is young but there's a lot of young teams and a lot of young players," UA coach Sean Miller said. "Our team has to get better. We're mediocre."
ASU, meanwhile, improved to 19-8 and 9-5, with a shot at first-place California on Saturday in Berkeley. It was the first time ASU had won at McKale Center three years in a row since the early 1980s.
While the Sun Devils are in a loss-column tie with the Bears, UA is 2 1/2 games off the pace with just four to go, appearing more like the uneven early-season Wildcats than the team that ripped off four straight wins early in the Pac-10 season.
According to center Derrick Williams' description of the post-game locker room scene, the Wildcats may have realized their goals are all but unattainable now.
"Everybody was real quiet," Williams said. "You don't want to lose to a rival school. Nobody really said anything."
Little was said to the media as well. Williams was the only UA player made available after the game and Miller ended his 11-minute interview by thanking the media and getting up to leave before all the questions were asked.
Of course, the final image was probably stronger than words, anyway. That was the one where Parrom initiated contact with ASU guard Derek Glasser after the final buzzer sounded.
Miller said he told Parrom to leave the floor while the teams shook hands.
"I love to see guys are disappointed with a loss, but we don't do anything other than that," Miller said. "I apologize to Arizona State. Kevin being a young person there's so many lessons young people learn leaving high school and coming to college, and I'm sure Kevin will learn from that. But I didn't feel good about that."
Miller declined to detail his thoughts further. Parrom was not made available for comment and even Glasser declined to bite on the post-game questions about it.
"Honestly, I don't know," Glasser said. "The game was already over. Zeros were on the board and we won. That's all that matters."
Abbott helped the Sun Devils win with his production in both halves, scoring 14 at halftime and 10 more in the first six minutes of the second half.
Many of his five three-pointers cut short potential UA rallies.
"You watch games and sometimes one team seems to win because they just have an incredible performance by one player and I really thought Ty Abbott was that player," Miller said. "I'm not going to be the coach who acts like we gave him shots. Certainly, we have to do better job ... perimeter players on a lot of teams have hurt us, but his performance was terrific. He moves without the ball. He's smart. And they do a great job of getting him the ball."
Abbott did not score in the final 11 minutes, and Arizona made a final run in the final two minutes. MoMo Jones made two free throws and then assisted Williams on a dunk that made it 69-64 with 1:36 left.
But ASU wound down the shot clock on its next possession, leaving UA with 30 seconds. Parrom drew a foul with 23 seconds left and hit both free throws to cut the Sun Devils' lead to 69-66.
However, Glasser was fouled with 22 seconds left and made both of his free throws to expand ASU's lead back to five points. The Sun Devils then coasted after Kyle Fogg turned the ball over on the sideline on the Wildcats' next possession, another painful turnover just after Jones had stepped on the baseline.
They were costly mistakes, certainly, but not ones Miller was going to blame on youth again.
"I came from this area where there was this coach who every time he lost he'd say the team was young," he said. "If they won, he would never talk about how young his team was."
"It's not about being young right now. It's just that we lost to the better team. Arizona State should be proud of their team. They did a great job."
- Arizona Daily Star
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Final score: Arizona 80, Arizona State 69
Location: McKale Center, Tucson
What went down: Arizona forward Derrick Williams posted a double-double with 31 points (8-12 FGs, 15-16 FTs) and 10 rebounds to lead the Wildcats to an 80-69 win.
Miller's record against ASU: 2-1
Patrick Finley's game story:
One by one, like knights trying to pull the sword from the stone, Arizona State took turns trying to stop the Pac-10's most dominant player.
The Sun Devils played their vaunted zone, trapping, double- and triple-teaming Derrick Williams in the middle of the key.
Then they switched to a press, then an out-of-character man-to-man, trying to find an answer.
There was none.
Williams scored 31 points, tying a career high he set just 10 days ago, to lead the Arizona Wildcats past ASU 80-69 Saturday at McKale Center.
At 15-3 and 4-1 in Pac-10 play, the Wildcats have ensured that Thursday's game against Washington will be for first place in the league.
Williams stepped to the free-throw line 16 times, making all but one, and now has shot almost half of his team's free throws in conference play.
Three times Saturday, he registered three-point plays.
A whopping seven ASU players — from 6-foot-2-inch point guard Jamelle McMillan to 7-2 center Jordan Bachynski — fouled Williams while he was shooting.
"He's such a mismatch," said UA coach Sean Miller, whose team is 11-0 at McKale Center. "If you're too big, he's too quick for you. If you're not big enough, he's become physically bigger and stronger and he overpowers you.
"A year ago, the second part of the equation wasn't as pronounced. He wasn't as comfortable overpowering you. Now he can do both."
It's hard to overstate the focus on Williams. In the first five minutes, frustrated by ASU's 1-2-2 zone, Williams managed just one shot, which he missed, and the UA trailed 12-6.
When the Wildcats went ahead for good, leading the charge were Williams and forward Jesse Perry, who started and scored 13 points.
Williams dunked to start a 16-4 run in which he and Perry, a junior college transfer, combined for 13 points.
"They had like five different guys on me, just trying to throw different attacks at me to see what I would do and how I would react," Williams said. "It worked the first five minutes.
"As soon as I started getting more active, everything else started opening up."
Forwards Williams, Perry, Jamelle Horne and Solomon Hill scored 59 of the UA's 80 points.
"They just have to pick their poison," Williams said. "They can either guard me and (Hill and Perry) are going to be open, especially in the zone, or they can guard them, and I'm going to be wide open in the middle."
The Wildcats' 35 rebounds were 14 more than ASU; their 14 on the offensive end bested the Sun Devils by 10.
"I wish I had an easy answer," ASU coach Herb Sendek said. "It's hard enough to stop a team like Arizona on the first try, let alone the second, third or fourth tries."
The Sun Devils (9-8, 1-4) were short on first-half firepower, playing 11 minutes without leading scorer Trent Lockett, who was whistled twice within the first five minutes.
The Wildcats' nine-point halftime lead appeared safe for the first seven minutes of the second frame.
ASU, which shot 52.1 percent, closed the lead with unusual pieces on the floor.
Marcus Jackson, a former walk-on, had played only 50 minutes all season entering Saturday. Bachynski, 21, who came to ASU after a Mormon mission, had appeared in only 60 minutes of action.
The two combined to score seven in a row to cut the UA lead to seven. A jumper by Lockett, ASU's leading scorer with 17 points before fouling out, and a dunk by Carrick Felix shortened the deficit to five with 8:28 to play.
But the UA scored eight of the next 10 points to pull away. Williams was 8 for 8 on free throws the rest of the way.
Williams has "emerged as one of the special players in college basketball," Miller said.
To prove that to a rival, before a season-best crowd of 14,601, was extra sweet, given the fact that ASU had won three straight at McKale.
"Any coach that doesn't recognize this game's really important," Miller said, "is not giving you the whole story."
- Arizona Daily Star
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Final score: Arizona 67, Arizona State 52
Location: Wells Fargo Arena, Tempe
What went down: Arizona guard Kyle Fogg went off for 26 points while shooting 7 for 13 from the field and 6 for 9 from 3-point range. He also hit all six of his free throws in the 67-52 win.
Miller's record against ASU: 3-1
Bruce Pascoe's game story:
TEMPE — After an easy 67-52 win at ASU on Sunday, the Arizona Wildcats are on their biggest winning streak, six games, of the Sean Miller era.
But leave it to Miller to put it all in perspective.
"Considering the place that I'm at, that's probably not ..." Miller said, pausing. "I mean, we're just getting started here. You can't compare that to the past."
What you can do is keep the Wildcats in first place in the Pac-10 by a full game over UCLA at 10-2 in conference play and 21-4 overall, and consider the depth that has continued rising to bail the Wildcats out of whatever situation arises.
Last week it was a triple-overtime game at California, with standout forward Derrick Williams having fouled out in regulation — and MoMo Jones and Kevin Parrom leading the Wildcats to a 107-105 victory with numerous clutch plays.
On Sunday, it was ASU all but nullifying Williams with its zone defense — and the Wildcats responding with a career high-tying 26 points from Kyle Fogg, who made 6 of 9 three-pointers after going 3 for 15 from beyond the arc in his previous five games.
It was a season-high scoring effort from Fogg, whose previous best was 18 points against Kansas. Fogg entered Sunday's game shooting just 30 percent from three-point territory.
"Kyle Fogg, it was really his night tonight," Miller said. "For him not to get credit for the victory would be a misnomer. Twenty-six points and you look at what he did on defense. He did it at both ends and you could make the argument he was the game's best player."
Williams managed just 11 points and five rebounds, then committed five fouls in the second half, while also snaring his sprained right pinky in the net.
But Miller said Williams also deserves credit for opening up shots for Fogg and the other Wildcats, who combined to make 9 of 22 three-pointers on a night when they knew early on that they would.
Nobody knew it more than Fogg, who has been perhaps the Wildcats' craftiest at feeding Williams in the post.
"Their zone is tough to play against," Fogg said. "Being one of the better guys at getting Derrick the ball in the middle, I could just see that they were throwing three guys at him and I just took it upon myself to try to knock down shots."
Backup point guard Jordin Mayes, with seven points on 3-for-5 shooting in the first half, and forward Jesse Perry, with 4 of 8 shooting for 10 points in the second half, also took notice and hurt the Sun Devils.
Like Fogg, Mayes said he had no choice.
"When the game started, we knew when we threw the ball into Derrick, they would collapse on him," Mayes said.
"We knew it would open up for other guys and we had to hit open shots."
Mayes' early shooting helped UA take a 34-24 lead at halftime, even though the Wildcats had minimal offensive help from Williams and Jones in the first half.
Williams had five points on 2-for-3 shooting but had five rebounds, two steals and a block. Jones was scoreless while shooting 0 for 3 from the field but had two assists. Jones finished the game 0 for 6 with two points and six assists.
Arizona shot only 40 percent from the field in the first half but out-rebounded ASU 32-26 and made 10 more free throws than the Sun Devils.
Jamelle McMillan led ASU with seven points on 3-for-4 shooting. The Sun Devils made just 3 of 9 three pointers — 4 of 15 for the game — and were 1 for 4 from the free-throw line. UA was 9 for 12 from the line in the first half.
Parrom hit a three-pointer with 8:09 left to put the UA up 28-18, completing an 8-1 run. Mayes' layup gave the UA a 30-20 lead with four minutes left in the half.
In the second half, UA opened with a 9-0 run to go up 43-24, getting a three-pointer and three-point play from Perry and another trey from Fogg.
ASU went on a 10-0 run to cut the lead to nine, but the Sun Devils came no closer. The loss dropped ASU to 9-15 overall and 1-11 in the Pac-10.
Sunday's game also finished the Wildcats' first season sweep of the Sun Devils since 2007, with UA also having beaten ASU 80-69 on Jan. 15 at McKale Center.
- Arizona Daily Star
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Final score: Arizona 68, Arizona State 51
Location: McKale Center, Tucson
What went down: Arizona freshman guard Nick Johnson scored 14 points (5-8 FGs, 3-5 3-pointers) while forward Solomon Hill collected a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Wildcats to their third straight win over ASU.
Miller's record against ASU: 4-1
Bruce Pascoe's game story:
Nearly every explanation for Nick Johnson's immediate success with the Arizona Wildcats this season includes the words "maturity," "composure" or "level-headedness."
But all those traits momentarily went out the window Saturday, at least until game time.
"Can't sleep!" the freshman said on Twitter at 6:36 a.m., nine hours before the Wildcats began their convincing 68-51 win over ASU, his father's former team, at McKale Center.
And, Johnson said after the game, he awoke even earlier than that.
"I was excited. I was up at like 5:30 in the morning," Johnson said. "I was just tossing and turning all night."
Fortunately for the Wildcats, Johnson was able to channel all that energy into productivity. He had 14 points, hitting 3 of 5 threes, and, as usual, also threw down a couple of explosive dunks that helped the Wildcats blow apart ASU's efforts to slow down the tempo of the Pac-12 opener for both schools.
So if the Tempe native who grew up in Gilbert was nervous or tired inside, it hardly showed. That's not always the case for some players, according to what UA coach Sean Miller indicated.
"It depends how you handle it," Miller said. "I think what it really says more than anything is Nick cares a lot. He cares about his own performance, cares about his team. You want a locker room full of players who care that much."
Miller has only two scholarship players on his roster from Arizona, but he actually had two others from outside the state that showed some obvious interest Saturday: Solomon Hill, who had his third career double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds, and Jesse Perry, who had a fill-the-box score effort that included 16 points, a three-pointer, seven rebounds, three assists, a block and a steal.
Believe it or not, Hill was nearly just as excited about the game as Johnson — even though he's from Los Angeles.
"Yeah," Hill said. "It's the crowd. You feed off the crowd. It's a different emotion about the game than any other game."
It appeared that way from the start. UA customized its pregame introductory video with clips of ASU-UA games and featured former Wildcat star Sean Elliott saying "there's nothing like playing your rival."
UA fans also filled McKale to near-capacity, a crowd of 14,499 despite the fact that students are on winter break, and there was premium pricing (the cheapest ticket sold for $33 instead of $19).
Once the game started, fans cheered when Kyle Fogg drew a charging foul from ASU point guard Keala King just a minute into the game. Fans began roaring after the Wildcats forced a shot-clock violation by ASU, then came down to get a three-pointer by Perry that gave UA a 20-11 lead midway through the first half.
"I love it," Hill said. "The students weren't here, and we were able to pack it in. It just showed the importance of the game. I really love it. It's my favorite game of the year."
UA pretty much put the game away by going on a 12-2 run early in the second half, establishing its faster tempo in part by aggressively defending.
The Wildcats held ASU to 36 percent shooting (just 26.7 percent from three-point range) and forced 19 Sun Devil turnovers. UA also recorded 22 points off those turnovers and had seven more second-chance points than ASU while out-rebounding the Devils 32-30.
"I liked our defensive intensity," Miller said. "Today we took advantage of our great crowd, played with a lot of energy and emotion and played hard on defense. We really had a great collective effort on defense."
Miller noted that it was "hard to get five steals in a game," the way point guard Josiah Turner did, praising both Turner and starting point guard Jordin Mayes — who had eight points, hit 2 of 4 three-point shots and collected two rebounds, three assists and two steals.
"If you look at the combination of Jordin and Josiah for 40 minutes, those two guys really got the job done for us tonight," Miller said.
Miller didn't go deep as he usually does with his rotation, though he did get 16 minutes from Kevin Parrom despite a sore right index finger that Miller said was probably bent back.
Miller said he wanted to get his key players more experience in a game that could have become close, with ASU having cut what was a 24-point UA lead to 13 late in the game on two occasions.
Although Miller said the Wildcats did not break the 70-point mark because of missed opportunities in transition, he also purposely slowed down the tempo late in the game while the Wildcats held on to their double-digit advantage.
"Just making sure we knew how to play with a lead and not giving them extra opportunities," Miller said.
In the end, UA wound up with an easy win that moved it to 10-4 overall and 1-0 in Pac-12 play, and ASU dropped to 4-9, 0-1. The Wildcats will move on to Southern California for games against UCLA and USC, a trip home for Hill that he said will be tough.
No doubt, it will probably be tougher than facing Johnson's hometown team turned out to be Saturday. Even if a few butterflies were involved.
"I would like to say it was another game, but my dad played there so I was pretty emotional," Johnson said. "And they recruited me for four years so I have a good relationship with all the staff and players. It definitely felt good to do what we did."
- Arizona Daily Star
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Final score: Arizona State 87, Arizona 80
Location: Wells Fargo Arena, Tempe
What went down: Arizona's Kyle Fogg and Brendon Lavender combined for 41 points but it wasn't enough to lift the Wildcats past ASU.
Miller's record against ASU: 4-2
Bruce Pascoe's game story:
TEMPE — All of ASU's three-pointers, easy layups and free throws against the Arizona Wildcats on Sunday didn't just rattle the rims at Wells Fargo Arena.
There was another sound, too.
"We just popped the bubble," UA forward Solomon Hill said, after Arizona lost 87-80 to its in-state rivals, significantly increasing the likelihood it will need to win the Pac-12 tournament in order to reach the NCAA tournament.
The Wildcats, who finished their regular season at 21-10 overall and 12-6 in the Pac-12, were a bubble team even before they allowed the Sun Devils to score a season-high 87 points and get 21 or more points each from three guys — Jonathan Gilling, Carrick Felix and Trent Lockett — who combined for just 18 when UA beat ASU 68-51 on New Year's Eve.
Now, the Wildcats don't consider themselves a bubble team. More like an NIT-bound team that is looking, as so many teams around the country do, at their conference tournament as an opportunity for salvation.
That's all.
"There's no way we're in now," said guard Kyle Fogg, who led the Wildcats with 23 points. "We're going to have to win the whole" Pac-12 tournament.
Because they were locked into the Pac-12 tournament's No. 4 seed no matter what happened Sunday, the Wildcats will have the same path this week. They will open Thursday in a quarterfinal game against No. 5 UCLA, assuming the Bruins beat short-handed No. 12 seed USC in a first-round game on Wednesday.
What's more, even if the Wildcats beat UCLA they could face top-seeded Washington in the semifinals, after the Huskies won the conference outright and earned the top seed thanks to Stanford's defeat of Cal on Sunday. Washington beat Arizona twice in the regular season.
Arizona and UCLA split their regular-season series and, largely because the Bruins have three big men who have caused the Wildcats trouble, coach Sean Miller called it a tough matchup.
Then again, to Miller, this is the time of year when successful teams find a way to win in tough situations.
On Sunday, the Wildcats were not that team.
"We're not good enough to be an NCAA tournament team right now," Miller said. "That's not to say we've waved the white flag or we're not going to go to L.A. to try to win the tournament. We have a (first-round) bye for a reason.
"But sometimes you say, 'How can that happen?' You have to be good. There's a lot of teams fighting for the same things as us and what they do is they go on the road in a game like today and they leave with a win."
The Wildcats left Wells Fargo with a disheartening loss not because they failed to execute offensively or rebound effectively. Surprisingly, they did so because the one thing it could hang their hats on all season — sound defense — was largely missing.
ASU hit 55.8 percent of its field goals, part of a worsening trend for the Wildcats, a solid defensive team earlier this season that has now allowed opponents to shoot 50 percent or more three times in the past six games.
But the Sun Devils also did some things, Miller noted, that were uncharacteristically good. They made 22 of 24 free throws, despite having made just 62.9 percent over their first 17 Pac-12 games, and turned the ball over 10 times — despite averaging 16.8 turnovers per game in conference play before Sunday.
"There's always characteristics you look for when you play an opponent," Miller said, rattling off things the Sun Devils did better than normal. "You go through every statistic offensively. We had a really hard time guarding them individually in the second half, guarding the post and, when they needed big shots, I really believe they made every one of them."
That's pretty much the way ASU coach Herb Sendek saw it, too.
"We have maintained all along that if we could somehow get our turnovers in the neighborhood of 12 or fewer, if we could convert better at the line, that would put us in a much better position to be competitive and this afternoon both of those happened," Sendek said. "More than anything else, our guys made plays."
Of all of those plays, the one that may have hurt the Wildcats the most was Gilling's final three-pointer, giving ASU an 81-77 lead with 57 seconds left.
Gilling was 5 of 6 from three-point range, hitting at an even higher percentage than UA's Brendon Lavender, who hit 3 of 4 three-pointers in each half to total 18 points.
"He was a hot hand," Hill said of Gilling. "He got himself open. At the end of the game he made a great shot, a contested shot and it put a cushion on their lead."
UA cut it to 81-80 when Fogg made a three-point play with 51 seconds left but Fogg and guard Josiah Turner missed shots in the final seconds while ASU made all six of its final free throws.
The Wildcats were able to compensate for their equally porous defense in the first half, when they went on an 8-2 run to break free from a 36-36 tie and lead 44-38 at the half. But this time, especially after ASU went on a 7-0 run in the first 86 seconds after halftime, it wasn't going to happen.
UA's early-half struggles have been a sore point all season and, when added to its unusual troubles on defense Sunday, the Wildcats couldn't come back this time.
"We have some shortcomings we've been dealing with since November and we've found a way, really, over the last six weeks to not mask them but be a better team," Miller said. "Today, you could make the case that was one of our best offensive performances. But we gave up 87 points."
- Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Final score: Arizona 71, Arizona State 54
Location: Wells Fargo Arena, Tempe
What went down: Arizona guard Mark Lyons posted 24 points (8-15 FGs, 6-6 FTs) to lead the Wildcats to a big road win over the Sun Devils in Tempe.
Miller's record against ASU: 5-2
Bruce Pascoe's game story:
TEMPE — For 30 minutes Saturday, Arizona and ASU put on the kind of physical, intense and foul-plagued show that you'd expect from a heated intrastate rivalry.
During Arizona's 71-54 win over ASU at Wells Fargo Arena, neither team led by more than a basket for the first 18 minutes, seven players had two or more fouls at halftime, and Sun Devils forward Carrick Felix added a little spice with a first-half technical foul.
Even after Arizona took control of the game with an 11-0 run in the middle of the second half, the intensity never waned.
It's just that the seventh-ranked Wildcats (16-1 overall, 4-1 in the Pac-12) kept throwing fresh bodies at guys like Felix, who went 1 of 8 from the field with seven turnovers while logging 40 minutes.
There was also the sight of ASU forward Jonathan Gilling, who hit 5 of 6 threes in ASU's 87-80 win over UA at Tempe last season, taking just five shots and scoring six points in 37 minutes.
The Sun Devils (14-4, 3-2) did get 22 points and four assists from dynamic point guard Jahii Carson over 33 foul-plagued minutes. There was 14 points from Evan Gordon over 40 minutes, too, but that wasn't enough, either.
Eventually, UA's depth and defense wore out the Sun Devils, who were playing without suspended player Chris Colvin.
"You know the minutes that Jahii, Felix and Gordon were playing? I don't think those guys came out of the game," UA forward Solomon Hill said. "You can't ask those guys to play that high a level for 40 minutes. There's no Kobe Bryants on the court. So we continued to throw waves at them. ... When we've got a lot of new defenders on you, it's going to be pretty hard."
So even though Lyons picked up a quick two fouls within the first eight minutes of the game — and center Kaleb Tarczewski had two halfway through the first half while tangling with ASU's 7-foot-2-inch Jordan Bachynski — the Wildcats kept plowing ahead.
They needed not worry.
"We knew we were the deeper team," UA coach Sean Miller said. "That doesn't mean on a given night that's going to work ... but we can withstand foul trouble, and we don't have to get into the fatigue part of things nearly as much because we do play our bench, and our bench has really helped us."
Offensively, Lyons tied his season high with 24 points, Johnson had 19, and Hill had 13 points with five assists. But it was also defenders such as Brandon Ashley and even Jordin Mayes whom Miller was praising afterward.
Mayes didn't take a shot in 13 minutes but had one assist and played solid defense against the Sun Devils' strong-shooting perimeter players, and Ashley was a central figure, along with Parrom, in shutting down Felix.
Yes, Ashley. The 6-8 forward known for his considerable offensive skills but not, until Saturday, discussed much as a defender.
Miller said it was the best defensive performance Ashley has had yet, and Lyons was practically ready to invite him to the backcourt.
"Brandon Ashley — he defended like a guard, and he's 6-8," Lyons said. "We got the win because of his efforts, too. He was closing out with high hands, he was beating them to the spot. ... Usually, you don't see that from Brandon so that was good to see today."
Felix entered the game as the Sun Devils' second-leading scorer (15.1 points) and leading rebounder (8.1) but managed to hit only one three-pointer in seven attempts, missed his only two-point shot and turned the ball over seven times.
"I just needed to slow it down and play the game in the flow of the offense," Felix said. "I think I just got away from that today."
Felix took only two shots in the first half and, although he hit a three to pull ASU within four points with 15 minutes to go, missed four three-pointers in the final five minutes while the Sun Devils tried to stay in the game.
Overall, ASU shot just 39.1 percent and made just 5 of 20 three-point shots. It was the second consecutive game that UA has kept its opponent under 40 percent from the field after the Wildcats were burned by Oregon's 48.1percent shooting in their lone loss of the season on Jan. 10.
That's a good trend for the Wildcats to be on heading into another showdown Thursday against UCLA at McKale Center.
"One of the reasons that we ended up winning like we did was our defense really returned to us," Miller said. "I thought our defense fueled us and through the 12 nonconference games that's something we did very well, especially in the biggest games on the schedule. In today's game, we defended with a lot of purpose."
- Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Final score: Arizona 73, Arizona State 58
Location: McKale Center, Tucson
What went down: Arizona guard Nick Johnson scored 17 points (6-11 FGs), grabbed four rebounds and dished out three assists to help the Wildcats complete their season sweep of the Sun Devils.
Miller's record against ASU: 6-2
Bruce Pascoe's game story:
Before they took the McKale Center floor for a final time Saturday, the Arizona Wildcats already knew they were in the NCAA tournament.
They knew Utah beat Oregon earlier Saturday, meaning there was no shot at a share of the Pac-12 title.
And, just before their 73-58 win over ASU on Saturday, Oregon State upset Colorado — meaning the Wildcats didn't even need to beat the Sun Devils to get a first-round Pac-12 tournament bye.
But the game still mattered to the No. 18 Wildcats (24-6), who finished in a three-way tie for second place in the Pac-12 at 12-6 and will be the No. 4 seed in the Pac-12 tournament.
Very much.
You could see it in the way Nick Johnson returned to his all-out rhythm on both sides of the floor, leading the Wildcats with 17 points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals.
You could see in the senior day intensity of Kevin Parrom, who had 13 points on 4-for-8 shooting and seven rebounds.
You could see it in the way UA coach Sean Miller bearhugged Solomon Hill as he came off Olson Court for the final time, having posted 12 points and four rebounds.
You could see it when officials called a total of 10 fouls in the first three minutes of the second half, including simultaneous technicals by UA's Johnson and ASU's Chris Colvin.
You could see it in the way UA forced 17 ASU turnovers, scoring 21 points off them, allowing the Sun Devils just three offensive rebounds.
And, according to the Wildcats, they also saw it during workouts all week, enduring what Miller said may have been one of the hardest weeks of practice he's held in March.
"Our will to be a good team has never left us, and that was really apparent this week," Miller said. "Sometimes when you push a team as hard as we went this week you can get some back-push, so to speak, where a couple of guys don't really want to go as long or hard. We had none of that.
"Credit our seniors for that."
The seniors received the payoff Saturday, thanks to plenty of help from underclassmen such as Johnson, Kaleb Tarczewski (nine points, eight rebounds), Brandon Ashley (six points, six rebounds) and even Jordin Mayes (six points).
Collectively, while the Wildcats allowed ASU to shoot 46.5 percent overall from the field, their defense made a difference. Arizona had 10 steals and a 35-23 rebounding advantage that was not reminiscent of so many recent defensive efforts.
What's more, UA was relatively consistent in both halves. The Cats built a double-digit lead 15 minutes into the game, led 40-25 at halftime and, despite having their lead trimmed to just five points with 11:26 to go, went on a 22-7 run from there to put the game away. During the run, Johnson and Hill each had seven points, and Parrom added five.
"We had to keep the same pressure in the second half," said Hill, who had 12 points. "We continued to do it, because in games like Cal (when the Bears shot 62.5 percent after halftime), we didn't bring it out in the second half, and we ended up losing."
It was that 77-69 home loss to Cal on Feb. 10, as much as any, that cost the Wildcats a share of the Pac-12 title that UCLA won Saturday. Arizona finished tied for second with Cal and Oregon, a game behind the Bruins, and the Wildcats received the No. 4 seed because they have not beaten either of the teams they are tied with. They will play the winner of the No. 5 (Colorado) vs No. 12 (Oregon State) game on Thursday at 2:30 p.m. in Las Vegas.
"Instead of cutting down the nets today and at least sharing the Pac-12 championship with UCLA ... we didn't play good enough defense to win it," Miller said.
But what the Wildcats might have done Saturday, instead, was capture some much-needed momentum. Arizona had some good signs in its 74-69 loss at UCLA last Saturday, such as Johnson's turnaround and Mayes' helpful play off the bench, and put on display several more pieces that it will need in the postseason.
Johnson, who played below normal for much of February after contracting an illness in Washington, said he "felt good" after a week of focusing on defense in practice.
That may have been something of an understatement, considering Johnson's help on both sides of the ball.
"That's the Nick that's played with us the entire season. He knows this," Miller said. "If he's not energized defensively or playing with confidence on offense, we're not nearly as good of a team."
The Wildcats also may again have a backup combo guard, with Mayes stringing together 12 efficient minutes off the bench while Mark Lyons struggled with fouls and eventually left the game with 1:12 left after picking up a technical foul that was his fifth overall. Lyons also had no assists with three turnovers and shot 2 of 10 from the field.
Arizona also displayed some tenacity — and maybe some restraint — after the game turned physical and foul-plagued early in the second half.
Among other incidents, Parrom was whistled for two straight fouls, Ashley was called for blocking, and Johnson and ASU's Colvin were both assessed technical fouls.
"That was the most bizarre three minutes of basketball that I've ever coached in, played in or witnessed at any level, from the time that I was 2 to the time I'm 44," Miller said. "That's all I'm going to say. Extremely bizarre."
Miller said it almost came to the point where he wanted to call a timeout just to get his team a break from it all, and the Wildcats did initially suffer. They led 44-30 after the technicals, but ASU cut it to 48-43 with 11:26 to go.
However, UA took a 70-50 lead with 4:23 left to put the game away as the Sun Devils struggled with foul trouble.
Miller said it "wasn't in the cards" to play either forward Angelo Chol or guard Gabe York off the bench, but the coach did manage to play all four of his walk-ons as the Wildcats coasted happily into a postgame senior day ceremony.
Now, with a little extra motivation as a No. 4 seed next week, they hope to keep the good times going.
"We're not going to Vegas feeling good about winning the conference," Miller said. "Sometimes when you do that, the edge is taken off because you're thinking about the next tournament. Our focus right now is what we did this week — and that's to be the most ready we can be."
- Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Final score: Arizona 91, Arizona State 68
Location: McKale Center, Tucson
What went down: Arizona guard Nick Johnson dropped 17 points (6-9 FGs) to pass the 1,000-point mark for his career and lead the Wildcats to their third straight win over the Sun Devils and an 18-0 record overall.
Miller's record against ASU: 7-2
Bruce Pascoe's game story:
If you only had one game to see how the Arizona Wildcats are off to record-setting 18-0 start, Thursday's game would be a pretty good choice.
In a 91-68 win over Arizona State at McKale Center, the No. 1 Wildcats smothered the Sun Devils defensively, even initially doing so with dynamic ASU guard Jahii Carson, and gave new meaning to the word "share" on offense.
All seven of the Wildcats' regular rotation players scored in double figures for the first time this season, while leading scorer Nick Johnson became the 48th player in Arizona history to reach the 1,000-point mark when he scored 17 to lead the Wildcats.
"No question, it's hard to have seven guys in double figures," UA coach Sean Miller said.
Miller went on to note how much better UA is when forward Brandon Ashley is assertive, as he was in the second half while scoring eight of his 10 points, but it was also true that all seven of the Wildcats had their moments of assertiveness.
That included Gabe York, who was the last to reach 10 points when he hit a three-pointer with 2:04 left. York was 3 for 5 from three-point range, hitting his last shot as Miller began to substitute heavily.
"We're unselfish and we can score at any position," guard T.J. McConnell said.
They can also defend any position. UA (18-0, 5-0 Pac-12) not only slowed down Carson in the first half, with a tag-team defensive effort that included efforts from McConnell, Johnson and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, but also kept ASU center Jordan Bachynski from making a single field goal.
Bachynski was 0 for 3 from the field, though he managed six rebounds, three blocks and two steals. The 7-foot-2 Canadian finished with three points after entering the game with an average of 12.7.
"They're just a really good team with great size," Bachynski said.
Bachynski's struggles were evidence to Miller that UA center Kaleb Tarczewski has become a "great low post defender," but he also praised Tarczewski's ability to stop Carson off of ball screens.
Then again, just about everybody played a part in making Carson work exceptionally hard for his game-high 20 points. Carson missed his first six shots and was just 2 for 10 at halftime, though he managed to reach 20 by taking 19 field goals and seven free throws.
"T.J. did a good job of just making all his shots tough," Johnson said. "Seven for 19 that's a pretty effective defensive performance, and some by myself. It was just making his job hard and when he comes off ball screens, it was just the big fella (Tarczewski) staying with him. We really stressed that."
The Wildcats also strived to limit Carson in transition, where he is especially dangerous.
"He's at his best in transition and that's where our defense had to start," Miller said. "You've gotta build walls around him. With few exceptions we did that."
Along the way, Carson was rejected for blocks not only by old friend Johnson but also by McConnell, who won't forget that block anytime soon.
"I get a block about every 40 games," McConnell said. "So I'd say it's up there."
Because of Arizona's defense, which held ASU (13-5, 2-3) to just 23.1 percent shooting in the first half, the game was really never in doubt after the first 10 minutes.
In fact, by the time Johnson scored his eighth point to hit the 1,000-point mark, with 7:14 left in the half, the Wildcats already had a 31-12 lead.
Johnson finished with a typical fill-the-box-score effort, with two assists, two rebounds and two blocks to go with 6-for-9 shooting.
Tarczewski and Hollis-Jefferson each had eight rebounds, with Tarczewski adding 12 points and two blocks.
Arizona had jumped all over the Sun Devils early, going on an 18-3 run in the first half and taking a 42-28 lead at halftime.
The Wildcats then took leads of up to 24 points in the second half to put the game away in front of a capacity "red-out" game in the intrastate rivalry.
The only drama was how many players would score in double figures, with the previous high of six being set against Fairleigh Dickinson, and how many would get into the game.
Miller eventually played 15 of his 16 players.
Freshman forward Zach Peters played for the first time since Dec. 3 and Johnson's brother, walk-on Chris Johnson, played for the first time all season since he was ineligible for the fall semester as a transfer from Cal State-San Bernardino.
- Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Final score: Arizona State 69, Arizona 66 (2OT)
Location: Wells Fargo Arena, Tempe
What went down: Arizona's Aaron Gordon (13 points, 10 rebounds) and Kaleb Tarczewski (13 points, 13 rebounds) both posted double-doubles but it wasn't enough as the Wildcats narrowly fell to the Sun Devils in double overtime.
Miller's record against ASU: 7-3
Bruce Pascoe's game story:
TEMPE — After a frustrating, draining 50 minutes of basketball Friday, the Arizona Wildcats couldn't wait to leave Wells Fargo Arena.
So they did.
Their usual tough defense and rebounding was unable to fully compensate for a shaky offensive performance in a 69-66 double-overtime loss at ASU, with Sun Devil guard Jermaine Marshall making a go-ahead layup with 14.7 seconds left and Jordan Bachynski blocking a subsequent UA shot before Jahii Carson threw down an exclamation point of a slam before the buzzer.
After all that, and after Nick Johnson's long three-point attempt at the buzzer missed and ASU fans stormed the court to celebrate the Sun Devils' first win over a team ranked as high as No. 2, the Wildcats held a locker-room meeting and then quickly bolted for their bus ride home.
No players were allowed to speak to the media and questions for UA coach Sean Miller were cut off after three minutes 11 seconds, roughly a fifth of the usual time.
Maybe that was just as well. Clearly, Miller wasn't really in the mood to talk about this one.
The Wildcats out-rebounded ASU 54-35, held the Sun Devils to just five offensive rebounds, kept the Sun Devils to just 40 percent overall shooting and 33.3 percent from beyond the arc.
But Arizona was even worse offensively. The Wildcats shot 35.9 percent, made only 25 percent of their threes, and, in what was probably the most alarming stat, were just 16 for 30 from the free-throw line.
The Wildcats also had 15 turnovers and just nine assists on their 23 made field goals.
When you have that much trouble scoring, well, maybe nothing else can save you. Not even defense and rebounding.
"Our offense is continuing to put more and more pressure on our defense," Miller said. "You can only guard so well. We missed a ton of free throws and, heck, we've missed a ton of free throws all year.
"Eventually it's going to run its course and you're going to lose because we're leaving too many points on the table. In the first half we had five or six shots that were the best that we can generate and we missed all of them."
The loss dropped Arizona to 23-2 overall and 10-2 in the Pac-12, entering a road swing to Utah and Colorado next week. ASU improved to 19-6 and 8-4 in the Pac-12, all but clinching an NCAA tournament berth, barring a late-season collapse. Marshall led ASU with 29 points while Carson had 17 points and six assists.
Bachynski, who had eight blocks Friday after recording nine and the game-saver six days earlier against Oregon, won't be forgetting his last block Friday anytime soon.
"That block will go down, as of right now, as my favorite of all time," Bachynski said. "Just because I've only beaten Arizona once. And to do that when they're ranked so high and when we're trying to get into the tournament, that's a great game on our résumé. Anytime we can beat the Wildcats, it's really special."
It was a big change of events from a month ago, when Arizona beat up ASU 91-68 at McKale Center.
"They're a great team. They play well together and it was a lot of fun," Bachynski said. "If we didn't believe we could have won tonight, we wouldn't have. We believed we could win. That manifested tonight."
One huge reason things were different this time: Marshall sat out the Jan. 16 game at McKale because of a groin injury.
This time he scored 29 points on 11-for-23 shooting.
"Jermaine Marshall did an outstanding job," Miller said. "He's a phenomenal player. It was a low-scoring game so Carson and Marshall combined for 46 of their 69 points so I give those guys a lot of credit. Arizona State is a very good team."
"We knew coming here it would be a tough game and that's what we found ourselves in."
After Marshall hit the go-ahead shot, and Bachynski blocked T.J. McConnell, Carson sprinted downcourt for his emphatic dunk. ASU fans then charged the court with 0.7 seconds left, forcing referees to usher them off the court, just as they had to at Cal when the Wildcats lost there on Feb. 1.
When order was restored, the Wildcats went to Johnson, who threw up a final shot from near the halfcourt line but it bounced off the rim and fans again stormed the court.
Johnson finished with 14 points while McConnell had 17.
The first overtime period was just as crazy as the regulation periods. Carson and Johnson each missed a pair of free throws midway through the first overtime, and with the game tied at 57 with a minute left in the period, Carson turned the ball over on an offensive charge.
But then McConnell threw a pass toward Rondae Hollis-Jefferson that was intercepted, giving ASU the ball with 51 seconds left. Then Carson drove inside but put up an errant layup, and it was UA's turn to give it a shot with 22 seconds left before Johnson missed a three and Hollis-Jefferson was too far behind the glass to pop his offensive rebound back.
ASU had a chance for a final heave with a second left, but Carson threw up a missed halfcourt shot and the game went into double overtime at 57-57.
In the second half of regulation, the Sun Devils held a 51-49 lead heading into the final minute but a turnover by ASU's Shaquielle McKissic led to a transition layup from McConnell that tied it at 51 with 41 seconds left.
ASU had the ball with 40 seconds left but Carson couldn't find a shot or a pass to make and the Sun Devils called timeout with 21.7 seconds left. ASU still couldn't get off a decent shot afterward, and Carson was called for a turnover, giving UA the ball with 13 seconds left.
But Arizona couldn't do any better. The Wildcats went to Aaron Gordon with five seconds left, and he missed a hook shot from 8 feet out, and even though Hollis-Jefferson grabbed the rebound, Johnson missed a shot at the buzzer, sending the game into overtime.
- Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Final score: Arizona 73, Arizona State 49
Location: McKale Center, Tucson
What went down: Arizona's Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Brandon Ashley and Stanley Johnson all scored 13 points apiece and combined for 18 rebounds to lead the Wildcats to a 24-point win over the Sun Devils.
Miller's record against ASU: 8-3
Bruce Pascoe's game story:
For Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, only 90 seconds or so separated his start Sunday from his usual entrance off the bench in Arizona Wildcats games.
Oh, and something else.
"It's (about) the same besides, you know, getting your name called" during introductions, Hollis-Jefferson said. "Who doesn't like that?"
A subtle change for Hollis-Jefferson, maybe, but overall the changes UA showed in its 73-49 destruction of ASU at McKale Center on Sunday were dramatic.
The No. 8 Wildcats charged into the new year with a new lineup, a newly renovated defense and even some newfound success from the free-throw line.
Saying he was just trying to change things up after a 71-67 loss to UNLV before a 12-day layoff, UA coach Sean Miller also gave a first career start to guard Elliott Pitts over Gabe York and may have been the first person on the planet to take Stanley Johnson out of a starting lineup when he went instead with Hollis-Jefferson at small forward.
"I don't ask his permission," Miller said, smiling. "I mean, it's not a big deal. Stanley's part of the team and he works hard. I have no ill feeling toward anything he did. He played an excellent game and at halftime, he might have been our best player."
Johnson scored all of his 13 points in the first half when UA built a 45-25 lead before halftime, jumping right back in the starting lineup in the second half. His 13 points tied Brandon Ashley and Hollis-Jefferson for team-high scoring honors, while Johnson added seven rebounds and a steal — though he did commit three turnovers and pick up four fouls that limited him to just 25 minutes.
In other words, it was another day of fast-paced learning for the expected one-and-done freshman, who is a projected lottery pick in the June NBA Draft.
"He didn't play maybe as well as he's capable of in the second half but he'll learn from it and we need him to continue to grow," Miller said. "All of these guys when they come here — whether they're here for a year or four years — it's all of our jobs as coaches to make them better, to give them things that maybe they didn't have when they showed up here."
While Johnson figures to float back into the starting lineup, it may not be as clear whether York will regain his spot. Even though Miller had started the same lineup for the Wildcats' first 13 games, he said in the preseason that he might change lineups — and he appears to be thinking about that again at this point of the season.
"We want to just start off with a different group, a group that has done things the right way," Miller said. "That's not a slight to Gabe York or Stanley Johnson. And who we start for the next game, I'm not sure. This year we might have to move the lineup around some. That might bring out the best in our team."
Whether it was the lineup or not, the Wildcats did bring out their best defense of the season. The 32.6 percent shooting the Sun Devils put up was the lowest opponent field-goal percentage the Wildcats have given up all season, and the Sun Devils' 22 turnovers tied for the second-most ever at ASU under coach Herb Sendek.
And while UA only outscored ASU by four points in the second half, the Wildcats kept the heat on defensively, allowing the Sun Devils to shoot only 27.3 percent after halftime while building leads of up to 25 points.
"I give Arizona a lot of credit," ASU forward Savon Goodman said. "They did a great job defensively against us and they stuck to their plan.
"We didn't execute our offense well and we were very careless with the ball."
Arizona scored 21 points off those 22 ASU turnovers — though ASU managed to score 20 off the Wildcats' 15 turnovers — and the Sun Devils also collected just six offensive rebounds and were out-rebounded overall 33-23.
That was a pretty big difference for a UA team that let UNLV shoot 44 percent and swipe 14 offensive rebounds 12 days earlier.
"There were times we broke down mentally, but for the most part we played a great defensive game," Hollis-Jefferson said. "For a team to score under 50 (points) in college, and that's a good team offensively, that's a big accomplishment. So I would say kudos to our defense."
Miller had vowed to "rekindle our defense" in practice last week after UNLV's Christian Wood and Rashad Vaughn carved it up on Dec. 23 and, sure enough, Hollis-Jefferson said Miller put a big emphasis on it.
"For a team to score 70 on us he doesn't like that," Hollis-Jefferson said. "He takes pride on defense. That's the main thing he talks about. So it was pretty tough for us in practice. Close out and all that extra stuff — we had to do it, and some."
They also had to shoot more free throws. UA entered the game shooting just 64.9 percent from the line, and Miller had suggested some of the Wildcats might want to spend their entire Christmas break shooting free throws.
Certainly, the Wildcats did upon returning to practice on Dec. 28, and, lo and behold, they made 16 of 19 from the line against ASU, their second-best percentage (84.2) of the season.
"We're going to get better from the line," Miller said. "I don't expect it to become all of a sudden to become 'wow, you guys don't miss.' But tonight's performance from the line is more about who we are than who we've been.
"And I hope moving forward that's one of many things we keep improving."
- Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Final score: Arizona State 81, Arizona 78
Location: Wells Fargo Arena, Tempe
What went down: Arizona point guard T.J. McConnell dropped a season-high 25 points (11-19 FGs, 3-4 3-pointers), grabbed five rebounds and dished out four assists but it wasn't enough as the Wildcats lost their second straight game at Wells Fargo Arena.
Miller's record against ASU: 8-4
Bruce Pascoe's game story:
TEMPE — Sensing immediately that something was wrong with his defense, Arizona coach Sean Miller said he called timeout after about 90 seconds Saturday.
Actually, it wasn't even a minute. Fifty-five seconds, to be exact.
If that was an indication time moved slowly, agonizingly slowly, for the No. 6 Wildcats in their 81-78 upset loss at ASU, you can imagine how Miller felt after the game. His defense had turned into the same sort of sieve it did late in losses to UNLV and Oregon State, only this time it leaked for most of the game.
"We didn't have it, and we never got it," he said of his "D."
In their second straight loss at Wells Fargo Arena — after ASU outlasted the poor-shooting Wildcats 69-66 in double overtime last season — Arizona this time failed on defense. The Wildcats allowed the Sun Devils to shoot an even 50 percent from the field and make 7 of 15 three-pointer attempts, including a 25-foot game-clinching dagger by Bo Barnes with 54 seconds to go.
Barnes' three gave ASU a 75-68 lead, and while there were still many timeouts and turnovers and made baskets that made the final seconds interesting, Miller knew where it was all heading.
He did much earlier in the game, apparently.
"Sometimes as a game plays itself out, and you deep down feel like you didn't deserve to win, and really that's how I felt," Miller said. "We broke down way, way too many times.
"ASU was the better team today. They played harder, moved the ball better, executed, and they earned the right to win."
The loss dropped the Cats to 20-3 overall and 8-2 in the Pac-12, where they sat in a loss-column tie with Utah in first place before the Utes faced Colorado later Saturday. The loss may have dealt the Wildcats a blow toward earning a No. 1 NCAA tournament seed, and they still have four road games remaining, including one at Utah on Feb. 28.
ASU improved to 12-11 and 4-6, having won four of its past six and, it hopes, having turned a corner for good after an 0-4 start to Pac-12 play.
"This one validates our season," said ASU forward Savon Goodman, who led the Sun Devils with 15 points and nine rebounds. "We've been fighting adversity."
The Sun Devils started Pac-12 play with a heavy dose of adversity, losing 73-49 to UA at McKale Center, continued with three more losses and, even when things were going better, were dealt an overtime loss to Oregon last week.
This was different. Much different.
You could see it from the deeper-than-normal ASU student crowd of 2,034 — a student crowd Sendek said was "incredible" among the overall attendance of 10,876 — and in the quieter-than-normal quarter of the crowd that was pulling for the Wildcats.
UA fans knew something was wrong, too.
ASU scored on two early possessions before Miller's first timeout and kept going. The Sun Devils shot 53.3 percent in the first half while taking a 41-34 halftime lead.
"I guess we just weren't ready, to be honest," said guard T.J. McConnell, who had a season-high 25 points. "When we have a team that's not ready, we're not going to win against any team."
It was only the second time the Wildcats had trailed at halftime in Pac-12 play — Stanford led them 41-39 in UA's win Jan. 22 at Maples Pavilion — and the Wildcats led Oregon State 21-20 in their Jan. 11 loss at Corvallis.
But while the Cats were initially able to offset their defensive troubles with good shooting — they led by seven with nine minutes left in the first half — it all caught up to them when their shooting slumped.
Arizona shot just 40.5 percent in the first half and was particularly hurt inside: ASU out-rebounded the Cats 21-17 and scored 22 points in the paint to UA's 14 in the first half.
While Arizona managed to shoot 50 percent in the second half, it was just 6 of 16 from three-point range for the game and forced to rely heavily on McConnell, who had his season high in scoring but also four turnovers to four assists.
"T.J. did everything in his power to give us a chance," Miller said.
In the first half, Brandon Ashley and Kaleb Tarczewski both went 1 for 5 from the field with three rebounds each, and while they were both more impactful in the second half, Miller wasn't too wild about the Wildcats' interior defense the entire game.
Because while Barnes, Jonathan Gilling and Gerry Blakes each had two three-pointers for ASU, which was exactly Miller's biggest stated concern before the game, the Sun Devils also beat up UA inside.
Having been limping along all season without departed shot-blocker Jordan Bachynski, the Sun Devils managed to outplay UA inside by getting help from big man Eric Jacobsen and Goodman, who made four layups over the first five minutes of the second half to help ASU expand its 41-34 halftime lead to nine points.
From there, Arizona never recovered.
The Wildcats cut ASU's lead to 65-63 with five minutes to go, but Blakes hit a three-pointer to put the Sun Devils up 68-63, and ASU carried a five-point lead into the final media timeout, with 3:17 left.
The Wildcats didn't get within three the rest of the way until McConnell hit a three-pointer with one second left before the buzzer sounded.
"They picked on a number of our guys," Miller said. "And the way that ASU plays offense from one side to the next really tests your discipline, and we had very poor discipline. A number of shots happened because we lost sight of the ball or our man, reaching at the end of the clock. All of the things that contribute to not winning the game, we did."
- Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Final score: Arizona 94, Arizona State 82
Location: Wells Fargo Arena, Tempe
What went down: In a heated game between the rivals, Arizona guard Gabe York dropped 22 points (5-12 FGs, 4-7 3-pointers), collected five rebounds and had six assists to lead the Wildcats.
Miller's record against ASU: 9-4
Bruce Pascoe's game story:
TEMPE — Gabe York might be a Californian like most of his Arizona Wildcats teammates, but let's just say he's been socialized a bit.
You could tell it the moment he lifted his arms and grinned in the final moments of Arizona's 94-82 win over ASU on Sunday, having led the Wildcats to their first victory at their in-state rivals' home in three seasons with 22 points, five rebounds and six assists.
Afterward, you could tell it by the way York's eyes lit up when he was asked about that moment.
It was ASU-UA. Not quite the tense football rivalry, to be sure. But a rivalry game nonetheless.
And one that the UA had lost in Tempe the past two years, with teams that York played a key role on.
"It was amazing," York said. With "all the mess they talk and all the things you hear throughout the game, especially the last three years, it was definitely fulfilling to go clap my hands, raise my hands and just let them know it was a hard-fought win and that we did it."
As usual, UA players and coach Sean Miller spoke respectfully about ASU after the game and about how all Pac-12 road games will be tough this season. That will probably be true, of course, but what was also true about Sunday was that a certain emotion was in the air that you don't always feel, even in conference play.
After Arizona tore off an 18-2 run to take a 41-35 halftime lead in a game it ultimately won by shooting 55.6 percent and outrebounding ASU 37-30, things became noticeably more heated.
Some examples:
Normally mild-mannered UA center Kaleb Tarczewski questioned an official repeatedly as he walked downcourt after a foul under the basket and was called for a technical.Arizona coach Sean Miller tossed his coat aside in apparent disagreement over the fact that Kadeem Allen did not draw a foul on a drive to the basket. York was clocked — or, as officials ruled, not clocked — by an elbow during a tussle for the rebound. Then, with just over a minute left, ASU coach Bobby Hurley was called for two technicals within 14 seconds while disputing the officiating, earning himself an automatic ejection. They were his third and fourth technicals of the season, his first at ASU.
"I really wouldn't have changed anything that I did today as far as anything that happened, as that's as far as I'm going to comment about any of that," Hurley said. "Other than I always want the spotlight to be on the performers, the guys in the game, and it shouldn't be about anything more than that, and that goes for all of us. It should always be about the players. Players should decide the game."
Ultimately, they did. Neither the technical from Tarczewski, which led to two free throws and the cutting of UA's lead to five points, nor the Hurley technicals made enough difference in the final margin.
What did: York's 22 points, Allonzo Trier's 20 and another double-double from Ryan Anderson (10 points, 10 rebounds), plus the fact that Arizona successfully reinserted Tarczewski (eight points, five rebounds) after he missed the past five weeks into a center rotation that also includes the fast-rising Dusan Ristic (10 points).
Hurley's technicals, however, did give York a chance to keep working on the confidence he's shown more often as a senior this season.
York went to the line 10 times in the final 1:18, hit eight of them — and actually beat himself up over missing two.
"Coach trusts me to shoot free throws," York said. "I've gotta get about 1,700 free throws in before the next game. Can't miss two like that. But it was a great win for us."
The win moved Arizona to 13-1 overall and 1-0 in the Pac-12 leading up to a game at UCLA on Thursday, while ASU dropped to 10-4 and 0-1. UA will also face re-energized USC in Los Angeles on Saturday before opening home conference play on Jan. 14 against Washington.
While three road games aren't an easy way to start conference play, the fact that the Wildcats have older guys like York probably helps.
With four 3-pointers early in the second half of UA's win at Gonzaga on Dec. 5, and an all-around game that included another four 3-pointers Sunday, York is showing the kind of veteran's confidence that thrives in home or adverse road situations alike.
"That's the growth of a player," Miller said. "They tend to be more of the same regardless of where the game's played, and Gabe's that guy for us."
As York's well-documented story at the UA goes, it started at the bottom. York was a seldom-used freshman reserve, a role player as a sophomore, a key player last year and now a full-time starter and team leader.
"The different seat on the bus now is that he's a senior leader, and one of our best players," Miller said. "If you just look at what he's done at Gonzaga and at ASU, not just because he's making shots but because he's a better defensive player and gives us our team confidence."
York also didn't shy away from a tough situation Sunday. When ASU's Willie Atwood appeared to connect with York's forehead while clearing space after a rebound, York fell backward.
That prompted officials to review the play, though they ultimately made no call.
"They said that I didn't get hit," York said. "So I told the refs, 'You can come see me tomorrow when I have a black eye.'"
Still, York shrugged it off, saying Atwood told him it was unintentional and that York believed him.
"It was, I guess, a hard play on the ball," York said. "We're not too worried about it."
Not long after the York-Atwood incident, though, Tarczewski found himself worried about the officiating, so much so that he drew his technical.
That, in turn, earned Tarczewski a mini-lecture from Miller as he returned to the bench, though Miller excused his senior center somewhat because he was playing his first game in more than five weeks. Tarczewski suffered a stress reaction and muscle strain in his left foot against Santa Clara on Nov. 26.
"It's an emotional game, and someone like Kaleb, being out for as long as he has on the sidelines, it's not easy all of a sudden to get out there and play," Miller said. "So from our perspective, we just want to make sure he controls his emotions."
On a day like Sunday, at a place like ASU, that wasn't easy for anyone on either side.
- Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Final score: Arizona 99, Arizona State 61
Location: McKale Center, Tucson
What went down: Arizona guard Allonzo Trier posted 20 points (5-11 FGs, 8-9 FTs) and eight rebounds while Kaleb Tarczewski collected 15 rebounds to lead the Wildcats to a 38-point win, UA's largest victory over the Sun Devils during the Sean Miller era.
Miller's record against ASU: 10-4
Bruce Pascoe's game story:
One of the things Sean Miller often talks about during the inevitable struggles of the early season is how the Arizona Wildcats might look in "February or March" when the wrinkles are out, roles are defined and experience is gained.
Well, it's mid-February now. And the Wildcats look pretty good.
Dominating, in fact, during a 99-61 win over ASU on Wednesday that pulled the Wildcats into a half-game lead in first place in the Pac-12.
Arizona pretty much maxed out its considerable size advantage inside to score 52 points in the paint and out-rebound the Sun Devils by 24 - and locked into a defense that held ASU to just 32.3 percent shooting.
Although the win moved the Wildcats to 22-5 overall and 10-4 in the Pac-12, where they remain in a first-place loss-column tie with Oregon, Miller stopped short of saying this is fully what he was hoping for.
"We're improving," he said, noting again the stream of issues the Wildcats' roster has suffered from this season, including Elliott Pitts' non-school issue that now has prompted him to leave the team for the rest of the season.
"The character of our guys — they have handled it as well as any group could have."
But nearly all of that appears to be behind them now.
The Wildcats have Allonzo Trier just about fully back from a broken hand, after Trier scored 20 points and had eight rebounds Wednesday in his best effort since returning on Feb. 6.
They also have Kaleb Tarczewski continuing to play the best of his college career, pulling down 15 rebounds Wednesday, after missing seven nonconference games with a foot injury.
The only piece they really don't have is Pitts, their seventh man and arguably top perimeter defender when he disappeared from action Dec 9.
Pitts has been traveling and practicing with the team but did not show up Wednesday night. When asked about Pitts' absence after the game, Miller said the junior forward " has stepped away from our team for personal reasons for the remainder of the year."
Miller said he couldn't elaborate further, though he said it was Pitts' choice to leave.
The fact that Miller has allowed Pitts to practice and travel had suggested he wasn't the one holding him back, and he's spoken highly of Pitts' character.
"Him and I have had a number of talks over the past couple of weeks," Miller said. "Him and I both felt that it would be in his best interest to focus on the task at hand academically and obviously remain here at the University of Arizona and finish his academic work."
As they have been since Pitts went missing on the floor Dec. 9 against Fresno State, the Wildcats soaked up the 21.3 average minutes Pitts left behind. On Wednesday, Miller played all of his available scholarship players, gave 21 minutes to Mark Tollefsen and another 17 to Dusan Ristic off the bench, and put in walk-ons Jacob Hazzard and Paulo Cruz near the end of the game.
As it turned out, Hazzard had the ball in his hands when the Wildcats had a chance to break the century mark for the first time in regulation this season, but he dribbled out the remaining seconds.
It wasn't as if the Wildcats needed any more points. Not only was their 38-point margin of victory their biggest of the Pac-12 season, but it also tied the most they had scored in regulation all season, having beaten Washington 99-67 on Jan. 14 (UA scored 101 at USC on Jan. 9, but that was in a four-overtime loss).
The Wildcats' dominance sagged only during a stretch in the first half when they kicked away an early 11-point lead. But UA finished the first half strongly and continued their roll into the second half, going on a 14-2 run after halftime to go ahead 52-26 just over four minutes into the second half.
From there, the game was no contest.
"It was a good game for all of us," Tarczewski said. "We were really locked in on all of our principles."
UA took a 65-35 lead midway through the second half when Kadeem Allen scored the second of three baskets within a span of 1:12.
Those three baskets totaled seven points, more than he scored in any of UA's previous four games while battling illnesses.
In the first half, Arizona dominated inside and held ASU (14-13, 4-10) to just 24.2 percent shooting while taking a 38-24 halftime lead.
Trier had 11 points in the first half, and Gabe York had nine to lead Arizona, which allowed ASU to wipe away an early 11-point lead, then went on a 13-1 run toward the end of the half to regain a double-digit lead.
The Wildcats shot 45.5 percent from the field and scored 24 of their 38 points in the paint. That, and UA's 27-17 rebounding advantage, allowed the Wildcats to overcome their 2-for-10 three-point shooting.
The Wildcats kept the Sun Devils scoreless for the first 4:23 of the game, leading 8-2 when ASU finally received a layup by Gerry Blakes. The Wildcats went on to lead by up to 11, 15-4 with 12:32 left, while initially outrebounding the Sun Devils 12-2.
But ASU went on a 13-2 run to tie the game at 17 on a three-pointer by Obinna Oleka and go ahead 20-19 on a three from Blakes. At the same time, the Wildcats hit only one of eight field goal attempts.
The Sun Devils couldn't keep the lead, however, making just one of seven shots while the Wildcats went ahead 26-22 on a three-pointer by Gabe York with 3:45 to go.
- Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Final score: Arizona 91, Arizona State 75
Location: McKale Center, Tucson
What went down: Arizona forward Lauri Markkanen scored a career-high 30 points while shooting 12 for 18 from the field and 4 for 7 from 3-point range. Three other Wildcats also scored in double figures: Kadeem Allen had 18 points, Dusan Ristic had 16 points and Kobi Simmons added 13 points.
Miller's record against ASU: 11-4
Bruce Pascoe's game story:
Because Lauri Markkanen grew up about 5,400 miles away from Arizona, basketball rivalry games could be something else.
Like when his native Finland played neighboring Sweden. Or Russia, that country on the other side. There might be a good crowd, a little tension between the neighboring players, in a sport that can fight for attention with soccer and hockey.
In other words, nothing quite like this. Before Markkanen threw down a career-high 30 points to lead Arizona over ASU 91-75 on Thursday, he entered McKale Center with a full student section repeatedly chanting and taunting Sun Devils coach Bobby Hurley.
He heard what was probably the loudest McKale Center noise to date this season, even if, thanks in part to his heroics, the game was never really competitive.
“Of course we had great rivalries against Sweden and Russia, but this is the first time a crowd like this,” Markkanen said. “So of course it’s a little bit different.”
You could say he adapted pretty well. Fellow European Dusan Ristic, who has already been through four ASU games, almost singlehandedly blew the game open at the beginning, scoring nine of his 16 points in the first four minutes while UA built an early 14-2 lead.
Then Markkanen began to take over, while a few other positives happened for the Wildcats, too: Kadeem Allen put in a beyond workman-like 18 points, eight assists, four steals and four turnovers, while Kobi Simmons broke out of a brief offensive slump with 13 points on 5-for-9 shooting.
While the Wildcats slumped defensively in the second half, allowing ASU to score 50 points and shoot 56.7 percent after halftime, Arizona also clobbered the Sun Devils on the glass with a 38-22 rebounding edge.
But throughout it all, Markkanen was the focal point. He hit 4 of 7 3-pointers and also pulled down eight rebounds for the Wildcats, who moved to 16-2 overall and 5-0 in the Pac-12 with the win. His scoring was the highest of any UA player this season, while the Wildcats’ 91 points matched their season high set on Jan. 1 at Stanford.
Markkanen also had no turnovers and made 2 of 4 free throws.
“I can’t believe he missed two free throws,” UA coach Sean Miller said jokingly, otherwise making it clear he had nothing but praise for his Finnish freshman. “He was spectacular. He was above and beyond a freshman. Obviously, he’s an incredible offensive player who really is improving on defense.”
Miller noted that Markkanen is even serious than he is – “you guys say I’m all business, he’s all business,” Miller said — and, in fact, Markkanen’s intensity has occasionally hurt him defensively as he ran into foul trouble while trying to improve.
That wasn’t an issue Thursday. Markkanen had only two fouls and managed to play 30 minutes, meaning he averaged a point a minute for the second straight game.
“He had 30 points in 30 minutes (against ASU) and 22 in 22 minutes against Colorado,” Miller said. “I’m thinking about playing him 40 minutes in the next game to see if he gets 40.”
Would be hard to blame Miller for trying. There was one span of a minute and 15 seconds when Markkanen played like he could have scored much, much more.
After Ristic and the Wildcats stepped on the Sun Devils right after tipoff, with Ristic’s early scoring helping Arizona take leads of 9-0 and 14-2, Arizona went ahead 20-8 on an alley-oop dunk by Rawle Alkins on a feed from Parker Jackson-Cartwright.
Then, after ASU cut it to 20-12, Markkanen hit three straight threes over that 75-second span to put UA ahead 29-12.
“The crowd got crazy and as he made the first two, coach kept making the assumption like he made two in a row so keep giving it to him,” Allen said. “So we kept looking for him and he kept knocking them down.”
After Markkanen’s third three, from the exact same spot in the right corner as his second, ASU coach Bobby Hurley called a timeout, but the Wildcats didn’t let up. They led by up to 24 points the rest of the half.
Arizona went on to a 45-25 halftime lead and after three minutes of the second half, the Wildcats slipped midway through the second. ASU cut their lead to 13 points twice, shooting 55 percent through the first 12 minutes of the half and out-rebounding the Wildcats 11-10.
The Sun Devils managed to hit 10 of 18 3-pointers after going 0 for 9 in the first half from long range.
But Arizona went back ahead 76-58 less than two minutes later, with Allen hitting an 18-footer and then grabbing a steal that led to a layup by Simmons with 6:38 left. The Wildcats took a 20-point lead, 78-58, when Alkins fed Simmons for an alley-oop layup with 5:20 and UA held on to comfortable leads the rest of the way.
Still, Miller wasn’t too comfortable. He worried that the Wildcats’ poor defensive effort in the second half might carry over into next week, when UA will play at USC and UCLA.
But at the same time, the big picture also looked pretty good for a team with only eight active scholarship players. The Wildcats were again without the suspended Allonzo Trier for the 18th game.
“We’re a confident group, we’re a confident team,” Miller said. “Sometimes we don’t finish games. We don’t have that excellent play for the entirety.”
- Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
The Arizona Wildcats have played 15 games against ASU during the Sean Miller era. Here's a look at the rivalry by the numbers in those 15 games:
Miller's overall record against ASU: 11-4
Miller's record in Tucson: 7-1
Miller's record in Tempe: 4-3
Total points: Arizona: 1,177 | ASU: 987
Point differential: Arizona has outscored ASU by 190 points under Miller.
Average margin of victory: 18.8 points
Average margin of defeat: 4.3 points
Longest win streak: 3 games
Current streak: Won last 3
Largest win: 38 points (Feb. 17, 2016)
Largest loss: 7 points (March 4, 2012)
- Arizona Daily Star
Final score: Arizona 77, Arizona State 58
Location: Wells Fargo Arena, Tempe
What went down: Arizona guard Kyle Fogg posted a game-high 21 points (5-10 FGs, 9-11 FTs), four rebounds and four assists while forward Derrick Williams dropped 20 points (7-10 FGs, 6-7 FTs) and grabbed six rebounds to end the Wildcats' five-game losing streak to ASU.
Miller's record against ASU: 1-0
Bruce Pascoe's game story:
TEMPE — That rugged nonconference schedule may have finally started to pay off Saturday for the Arizona Wildcats.
Playing their 10th game away from McKale Center, the Wildcats struggled early before rolling to a 77-58 win over ASU.
The victory broke a five-game losing streak to the Sun Devils, while improving UA's record to 10-9 overall and 4-3 in the Pac-10. The Wildcats will now get a crack at first place if they can sweep Stanford and California at home next week.
Their style wasn't pretty in the first half, when the Wildcats shot just 24 percent from the field, but they had a gritty, resilient style that UA coach Sean Miller has been looking for.
They also broke the Sun Devils' zone down with relative ease in the second half, creating many baskets in transition and shooting 75 percent after halftime.
"When you play 10 games away from home, it starts to work in your favor," Miller said. "Some of our younger guys are clearly more comfortable now playing on the road than they were."
Arizona was rattled early in the hostile Wells Fargo Arena atmosphere, but returned in the second half to show a thicker skin.
Not only did Kevin Parrom deliver a hard foul on ASU guard Ty Abbott that sent Parrom to the bench with technical and personal fouls that gave him five for the game, but forward Jamelle Horne also rebounded from an ineffective first half to score 11 in the second. He was talked to both by Miller at halftime and, on the bench during the second half, by assistant coach Book Richardson.
"I tried to tell him anything I could" to inspire him, Miller said.
Down 27-25 at halftime, the Wildcats went on a 13-0 run early in the second half and coasted after a tense period in the middle of the second half, when Parrom committed his hard foul and ASU coach Herb Sendek was assessed a technical foul.
Following several minutes of review and discussion by game officials, Parrom left with 8:35 to go after he tried to block Abbott from behind, reached over his head and pulled his forehead back.
Abbott made 1 of 2 ensuing free throws.
Three minutes later, Sendek was whistled for a technical foul when he argued with officials, and Nic Wise hit both free throws to give UA a 60-44 lead.
The Wildcats went on to take a 20-point lead, 67-47, when Horne made his third three-pointer.
"You can always say that" Parrom's foul inspired the team, Horne said. "But it definitely did help us. We don't want to hurt anybody but you can't give up easy baskets."
Parrom was not available for comment after the game.
Miller started Solomon Hill ahead of Horne in the second half. Horne went out of the game early while limping on his right foot, then returned.
Once he did get in, however, Horne warmed up. He hit a three-pointer to put UA up 34-29 with 14:25 left and later hit another to give the Wildcats a 52-39 lead with 7:40 left.
Horne finished with 11 points, while Kyle Fogg led all scorers with 21 points and Derrick Williams had 20 points and six rebounds. Wise, the only Wildcat to have beaten ASU before Saturday night, had 16 points and six assists.
Rihards Kuksiks led ASU with 15 points.
In the first half, Fogg scored eight points in the final five minutes, but the Wildcats' early shooting trouble still put them back 27-25 to ASU at halftime.
The Wildcats shot just 23.8 percent from the field and made only 2 of 11 three-pointers. ASU, however, wasn't much better at 28.6 percent, missing all four field goals it took on one first-half possession.
UA went on a 9-0 run to cut ASU's lead to 20-19 when Fogg hit two free throws with 4:18 left. Fogg later gave UA its first lead since the early minutes when he hit two free throws with 1:34 left to make it 25-24.
But Kuksiks hit 1 of 2 free throws with 1:06 left and Demetrius Walker hit two with 5.6 seconds left to give ASU the 27-25 lead entering halftime. UA had the five seconds to try a final shot but Wise drove inside and could not find a shot as time expired, passing to Fogg as the halftime buzzer sounded.
The Wildcats didn't score at the beginning of the game until Parrom knocked down a jumper with 18:00 left in the first half, but kept ASU scoreless for over three minutes. Derek Glasser scored the Sun Devils' first points with a layup at the 16:57, drawing a foul from Wise and converting the ensuing free throw.
But UA's poor shooting allowed ASU to build leads of 9-5 and 20-10 before Wise hit a pair of free throws with 7:14 left and Hill made an open three-pointer with 5:05 left to cut ASU's lead to five points.
At the media timeout with 7:14 left in the first half, UA had made just 3 of 17 shots from the field and only 1 of 9 three-pointers.
Three of UA's missed shots were air balls by Fogg, Horne and Parrom.
UA wore its red road uniforms for the second straight game, after wearing only blue for all previous road games.
Miller said Thursday the Wildcats would wear blue.
- Arizona Daily Star
Final score: Arizona State 73, Arizona 69
Location: McKale Center, Tucson
What went down: Arizona's Nic Wise, Derrick Williams and Kyle Fogg combined for 46 of UA's 69 points, but the Wildcats couldn't edge out the Sun Devils in the end.
Miller's record against ASU: 1-1
Bruce Pascoe's game story:
It's all out the window now.
The Pac-10 title race, the slim hope of a 26th straight NCAA title berth, the momentum and swagger of late January, all appeared to become memories Sunday when Arizona lost 73-69 to ASU at McKale Center.
With 28 points on 11-for-17 shooting against the Wildcats' shaky defense, ASU guard Ty Abbott avenged a poor-shooting night and the infamous "no easy baskets" hard foul on him by UA's Kevin Parrom a month earlier during UA's 77-58 win in Tempe.
What's more, the Sun Devils collectively shot 67 percent from the field in the second half and scored 13 points off UA's 12 turnovers for the game, two of which came at particularly costly points late in the game.
The loss was Arizona's fourth in its past five games, dropping the Wildcats to 13-13 overall and 7-7 in the Pac-10, meaning the Wildcats will likely have to win the Pac-10 tournament to get in the NCAA tournament field.
"Our team is young but there's a lot of young teams and a lot of young players," UA coach Sean Miller said. "Our team has to get better. We're mediocre."
ASU, meanwhile, improved to 19-8 and 9-5, with a shot at first-place California on Saturday in Berkeley. It was the first time ASU had won at McKale Center three years in a row since the early 1980s.
While the Sun Devils are in a loss-column tie with the Bears, UA is 2 1/2 games off the pace with just four to go, appearing more like the uneven early-season Wildcats than the team that ripped off four straight wins early in the Pac-10 season.
According to center Derrick Williams' description of the post-game locker room scene, the Wildcats may have realized their goals are all but unattainable now.
"Everybody was real quiet," Williams said. "You don't want to lose to a rival school. Nobody really said anything."
Little was said to the media as well. Williams was the only UA player made available after the game and Miller ended his 11-minute interview by thanking the media and getting up to leave before all the questions were asked.
Of course, the final image was probably stronger than words, anyway. That was the one where Parrom initiated contact with ASU guard Derek Glasser after the final buzzer sounded.
Miller said he told Parrom to leave the floor while the teams shook hands.
"I love to see guys are disappointed with a loss, but we don't do anything other than that," Miller said. "I apologize to Arizona State. Kevin being a young person there's so many lessons young people learn leaving high school and coming to college, and I'm sure Kevin will learn from that. But I didn't feel good about that."
Miller declined to detail his thoughts further. Parrom was not made available for comment and even Glasser declined to bite on the post-game questions about it.
"Honestly, I don't know," Glasser said. "The game was already over. Zeros were on the board and we won. That's all that matters."
Abbott helped the Sun Devils win with his production in both halves, scoring 14 at halftime and 10 more in the first six minutes of the second half.
Many of his five three-pointers cut short potential UA rallies.
"You watch games and sometimes one team seems to win because they just have an incredible performance by one player and I really thought Ty Abbott was that player," Miller said. "I'm not going to be the coach who acts like we gave him shots. Certainly, we have to do better job ... perimeter players on a lot of teams have hurt us, but his performance was terrific. He moves without the ball. He's smart. And they do a great job of getting him the ball."
Abbott did not score in the final 11 minutes, and Arizona made a final run in the final two minutes. MoMo Jones made two free throws and then assisted Williams on a dunk that made it 69-64 with 1:36 left.
But ASU wound down the shot clock on its next possession, leaving UA with 30 seconds. Parrom drew a foul with 23 seconds left and hit both free throws to cut the Sun Devils' lead to 69-66.
However, Glasser was fouled with 22 seconds left and made both of his free throws to expand ASU's lead back to five points. The Sun Devils then coasted after Kyle Fogg turned the ball over on the sideline on the Wildcats' next possession, another painful turnover just after Jones had stepped on the baseline.
They were costly mistakes, certainly, but not ones Miller was going to blame on youth again.
"I came from this area where there was this coach who every time he lost he'd say the team was young," he said. "If they won, he would never talk about how young his team was."
"It's not about being young right now. It's just that we lost to the better team. Arizona State should be proud of their team. They did a great job."
- Arizona Daily Star
Final score: Arizona 80, Arizona State 69
Location: McKale Center, Tucson
What went down: Arizona forward Derrick Williams posted a double-double with 31 points (8-12 FGs, 15-16 FTs) and 10 rebounds to lead the Wildcats to an 80-69 win.
Miller's record against ASU: 2-1
Patrick Finley's game story:
One by one, like knights trying to pull the sword from the stone, Arizona State took turns trying to stop the Pac-10's most dominant player.
The Sun Devils played their vaunted zone, trapping, double- and triple-teaming Derrick Williams in the middle of the key.
Then they switched to a press, then an out-of-character man-to-man, trying to find an answer.
There was none.
Williams scored 31 points, tying a career high he set just 10 days ago, to lead the Arizona Wildcats past ASU 80-69 Saturday at McKale Center.
At 15-3 and 4-1 in Pac-10 play, the Wildcats have ensured that Thursday's game against Washington will be for first place in the league.
Williams stepped to the free-throw line 16 times, making all but one, and now has shot almost half of his team's free throws in conference play.
Three times Saturday, he registered three-point plays.
A whopping seven ASU players — from 6-foot-2-inch point guard Jamelle McMillan to 7-2 center Jordan Bachynski — fouled Williams while he was shooting.
"He's such a mismatch," said UA coach Sean Miller, whose team is 11-0 at McKale Center. "If you're too big, he's too quick for you. If you're not big enough, he's become physically bigger and stronger and he overpowers you.
"A year ago, the second part of the equation wasn't as pronounced. He wasn't as comfortable overpowering you. Now he can do both."
It's hard to overstate the focus on Williams. In the first five minutes, frustrated by ASU's 1-2-2 zone, Williams managed just one shot, which he missed, and the UA trailed 12-6.
When the Wildcats went ahead for good, leading the charge were Williams and forward Jesse Perry, who started and scored 13 points.
Williams dunked to start a 16-4 run in which he and Perry, a junior college transfer, combined for 13 points.
"They had like five different guys on me, just trying to throw different attacks at me to see what I would do and how I would react," Williams said. "It worked the first five minutes.
"As soon as I started getting more active, everything else started opening up."
Forwards Williams, Perry, Jamelle Horne and Solomon Hill scored 59 of the UA's 80 points.
"They just have to pick their poison," Williams said. "They can either guard me and (Hill and Perry) are going to be open, especially in the zone, or they can guard them, and I'm going to be wide open in the middle."
The Wildcats' 35 rebounds were 14 more than ASU; their 14 on the offensive end bested the Sun Devils by 10.
"I wish I had an easy answer," ASU coach Herb Sendek said. "It's hard enough to stop a team like Arizona on the first try, let alone the second, third or fourth tries."
The Sun Devils (9-8, 1-4) were short on first-half firepower, playing 11 minutes without leading scorer Trent Lockett, who was whistled twice within the first five minutes.
The Wildcats' nine-point halftime lead appeared safe for the first seven minutes of the second frame.
ASU, which shot 52.1 percent, closed the lead with unusual pieces on the floor.
Marcus Jackson, a former walk-on, had played only 50 minutes all season entering Saturday. Bachynski, 21, who came to ASU after a Mormon mission, had appeared in only 60 minutes of action.
The two combined to score seven in a row to cut the UA lead to seven. A jumper by Lockett, ASU's leading scorer with 17 points before fouling out, and a dunk by Carrick Felix shortened the deficit to five with 8:28 to play.
But the UA scored eight of the next 10 points to pull away. Williams was 8 for 8 on free throws the rest of the way.
Williams has "emerged as one of the special players in college basketball," Miller said.
To prove that to a rival, before a season-best crowd of 14,601, was extra sweet, given the fact that ASU had won three straight at McKale.
"Any coach that doesn't recognize this game's really important," Miller said, "is not giving you the whole story."
- Arizona Daily Star
Final score: Arizona 67, Arizona State 52
Location: Wells Fargo Arena, Tempe
What went down: Arizona guard Kyle Fogg went off for 26 points while shooting 7 for 13 from the field and 6 for 9 from 3-point range. He also hit all six of his free throws in the 67-52 win.
Miller's record against ASU: 3-1
Bruce Pascoe's game story:
TEMPE — After an easy 67-52 win at ASU on Sunday, the Arizona Wildcats are on their biggest winning streak, six games, of the Sean Miller era.
But leave it to Miller to put it all in perspective.
"Considering the place that I'm at, that's probably not ..." Miller said, pausing. "I mean, we're just getting started here. You can't compare that to the past."
What you can do is keep the Wildcats in first place in the Pac-10 by a full game over UCLA at 10-2 in conference play and 21-4 overall, and consider the depth that has continued rising to bail the Wildcats out of whatever situation arises.
Last week it was a triple-overtime game at California, with standout forward Derrick Williams having fouled out in regulation — and MoMo Jones and Kevin Parrom leading the Wildcats to a 107-105 victory with numerous clutch plays.
On Sunday, it was ASU all but nullifying Williams with its zone defense — and the Wildcats responding with a career high-tying 26 points from Kyle Fogg, who made 6 of 9 three-pointers after going 3 for 15 from beyond the arc in his previous five games.
It was a season-high scoring effort from Fogg, whose previous best was 18 points against Kansas. Fogg entered Sunday's game shooting just 30 percent from three-point territory.
"Kyle Fogg, it was really his night tonight," Miller said. "For him not to get credit for the victory would be a misnomer. Twenty-six points and you look at what he did on defense. He did it at both ends and you could make the argument he was the game's best player."
Williams managed just 11 points and five rebounds, then committed five fouls in the second half, while also snaring his sprained right pinky in the net.
But Miller said Williams also deserves credit for opening up shots for Fogg and the other Wildcats, who combined to make 9 of 22 three-pointers on a night when they knew early on that they would.
Nobody knew it more than Fogg, who has been perhaps the Wildcats' craftiest at feeding Williams in the post.
"Their zone is tough to play against," Fogg said. "Being one of the better guys at getting Derrick the ball in the middle, I could just see that they were throwing three guys at him and I just took it upon myself to try to knock down shots."
Backup point guard Jordin Mayes, with seven points on 3-for-5 shooting in the first half, and forward Jesse Perry, with 4 of 8 shooting for 10 points in the second half, also took notice and hurt the Sun Devils.
Like Fogg, Mayes said he had no choice.
"When the game started, we knew when we threw the ball into Derrick, they would collapse on him," Mayes said.
"We knew it would open up for other guys and we had to hit open shots."
Mayes' early shooting helped UA take a 34-24 lead at halftime, even though the Wildcats had minimal offensive help from Williams and Jones in the first half.
Williams had five points on 2-for-3 shooting but had five rebounds, two steals and a block. Jones was scoreless while shooting 0 for 3 from the field but had two assists. Jones finished the game 0 for 6 with two points and six assists.
Arizona shot only 40 percent from the field in the first half but out-rebounded ASU 32-26 and made 10 more free throws than the Sun Devils.
Jamelle McMillan led ASU with seven points on 3-for-4 shooting. The Sun Devils made just 3 of 9 three pointers — 4 of 15 for the game — and were 1 for 4 from the free-throw line. UA was 9 for 12 from the line in the first half.
Parrom hit a three-pointer with 8:09 left to put the UA up 28-18, completing an 8-1 run. Mayes' layup gave the UA a 30-20 lead with four minutes left in the half.
In the second half, UA opened with a 9-0 run to go up 43-24, getting a three-pointer and three-point play from Perry and another trey from Fogg.
ASU went on a 10-0 run to cut the lead to nine, but the Sun Devils came no closer. The loss dropped ASU to 9-15 overall and 1-11 in the Pac-10.
Sunday's game also finished the Wildcats' first season sweep of the Sun Devils since 2007, with UA also having beaten ASU 80-69 on Jan. 15 at McKale Center.
- Arizona Daily Star
Final score: Arizona 68, Arizona State 51
Location: McKale Center, Tucson
What went down: Arizona freshman guard Nick Johnson scored 14 points (5-8 FGs, 3-5 3-pointers) while forward Solomon Hill collected a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Wildcats to their third straight win over ASU.
Miller's record against ASU: 4-1
Bruce Pascoe's game story:
Nearly every explanation for Nick Johnson's immediate success with the Arizona Wildcats this season includes the words "maturity," "composure" or "level-headedness."
But all those traits momentarily went out the window Saturday, at least until game time.
"Can't sleep!" the freshman said on Twitter at 6:36 a.m., nine hours before the Wildcats began their convincing 68-51 win over ASU, his father's former team, at McKale Center.
And, Johnson said after the game, he awoke even earlier than that.
"I was excited. I was up at like 5:30 in the morning," Johnson said. "I was just tossing and turning all night."
Fortunately for the Wildcats, Johnson was able to channel all that energy into productivity. He had 14 points, hitting 3 of 5 threes, and, as usual, also threw down a couple of explosive dunks that helped the Wildcats blow apart ASU's efforts to slow down the tempo of the Pac-12 opener for both schools.
So if the Tempe native who grew up in Gilbert was nervous or tired inside, it hardly showed. That's not always the case for some players, according to what UA coach Sean Miller indicated.
"It depends how you handle it," Miller said. "I think what it really says more than anything is Nick cares a lot. He cares about his own performance, cares about his team. You want a locker room full of players who care that much."
Miller has only two scholarship players on his roster from Arizona, but he actually had two others from outside the state that showed some obvious interest Saturday: Solomon Hill, who had his third career double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds, and Jesse Perry, who had a fill-the-box score effort that included 16 points, a three-pointer, seven rebounds, three assists, a block and a steal.
Believe it or not, Hill was nearly just as excited about the game as Johnson — even though he's from Los Angeles.
"Yeah," Hill said. "It's the crowd. You feed off the crowd. It's a different emotion about the game than any other game."
It appeared that way from the start. UA customized its pregame introductory video with clips of ASU-UA games and featured former Wildcat star Sean Elliott saying "there's nothing like playing your rival."
UA fans also filled McKale to near-capacity, a crowd of 14,499 despite the fact that students are on winter break, and there was premium pricing (the cheapest ticket sold for $33 instead of $19).
Once the game started, fans cheered when Kyle Fogg drew a charging foul from ASU point guard Keala King just a minute into the game. Fans began roaring after the Wildcats forced a shot-clock violation by ASU, then came down to get a three-pointer by Perry that gave UA a 20-11 lead midway through the first half.
"I love it," Hill said. "The students weren't here, and we were able to pack it in. It just showed the importance of the game. I really love it. It's my favorite game of the year."
UA pretty much put the game away by going on a 12-2 run early in the second half, establishing its faster tempo in part by aggressively defending.
The Wildcats held ASU to 36 percent shooting (just 26.7 percent from three-point range) and forced 19 Sun Devil turnovers. UA also recorded 22 points off those turnovers and had seven more second-chance points than ASU while out-rebounding the Devils 32-30.
"I liked our defensive intensity," Miller said. "Today we took advantage of our great crowd, played with a lot of energy and emotion and played hard on defense. We really had a great collective effort on defense."
Miller noted that it was "hard to get five steals in a game," the way point guard Josiah Turner did, praising both Turner and starting point guard Jordin Mayes — who had eight points, hit 2 of 4 three-point shots and collected two rebounds, three assists and two steals.
"If you look at the combination of Jordin and Josiah for 40 minutes, those two guys really got the job done for us tonight," Miller said.
Miller didn't go deep as he usually does with his rotation, though he did get 16 minutes from Kevin Parrom despite a sore right index finger that Miller said was probably bent back.
Miller said he wanted to get his key players more experience in a game that could have become close, with ASU having cut what was a 24-point UA lead to 13 late in the game on two occasions.
Although Miller said the Wildcats did not break the 70-point mark because of missed opportunities in transition, he also purposely slowed down the tempo late in the game while the Wildcats held on to their double-digit advantage.
"Just making sure we knew how to play with a lead and not giving them extra opportunities," Miller said.
In the end, UA wound up with an easy win that moved it to 10-4 overall and 1-0 in Pac-12 play, and ASU dropped to 4-9, 0-1. The Wildcats will move on to Southern California for games against UCLA and USC, a trip home for Hill that he said will be tough.
No doubt, it will probably be tougher than facing Johnson's hometown team turned out to be Saturday. Even if a few butterflies were involved.
"I would like to say it was another game, but my dad played there so I was pretty emotional," Johnson said. "And they recruited me for four years so I have a good relationship with all the staff and players. It definitely felt good to do what we did."
- Arizona Daily Star
Final score: Arizona State 87, Arizona 80
Location: Wells Fargo Arena, Tempe
What went down: Arizona's Kyle Fogg and Brendon Lavender combined for 41 points but it wasn't enough to lift the Wildcats past ASU.
Miller's record against ASU: 4-2
Bruce Pascoe's game story:
TEMPE — All of ASU's three-pointers, easy layups and free throws against the Arizona Wildcats on Sunday didn't just rattle the rims at Wells Fargo Arena.
There was another sound, too.
"We just popped the bubble," UA forward Solomon Hill said, after Arizona lost 87-80 to its in-state rivals, significantly increasing the likelihood it will need to win the Pac-12 tournament in order to reach the NCAA tournament.
The Wildcats, who finished their regular season at 21-10 overall and 12-6 in the Pac-12, were a bubble team even before they allowed the Sun Devils to score a season-high 87 points and get 21 or more points each from three guys — Jonathan Gilling, Carrick Felix and Trent Lockett — who combined for just 18 when UA beat ASU 68-51 on New Year's Eve.
Now, the Wildcats don't consider themselves a bubble team. More like an NIT-bound team that is looking, as so many teams around the country do, at their conference tournament as an opportunity for salvation.
That's all.
"There's no way we're in now," said guard Kyle Fogg, who led the Wildcats with 23 points. "We're going to have to win the whole" Pac-12 tournament.
Because they were locked into the Pac-12 tournament's No. 4 seed no matter what happened Sunday, the Wildcats will have the same path this week. They will open Thursday in a quarterfinal game against No. 5 UCLA, assuming the Bruins beat short-handed No. 12 seed USC in a first-round game on Wednesday.
What's more, even if the Wildcats beat UCLA they could face top-seeded Washington in the semifinals, after the Huskies won the conference outright and earned the top seed thanks to Stanford's defeat of Cal on Sunday. Washington beat Arizona twice in the regular season.
Arizona and UCLA split their regular-season series and, largely because the Bruins have three big men who have caused the Wildcats trouble, coach Sean Miller called it a tough matchup.
Then again, to Miller, this is the time of year when successful teams find a way to win in tough situations.
On Sunday, the Wildcats were not that team.
"We're not good enough to be an NCAA tournament team right now," Miller said. "That's not to say we've waved the white flag or we're not going to go to L.A. to try to win the tournament. We have a (first-round) bye for a reason.
"But sometimes you say, 'How can that happen?' You have to be good. There's a lot of teams fighting for the same things as us and what they do is they go on the road in a game like today and they leave with a win."
The Wildcats left Wells Fargo with a disheartening loss not because they failed to execute offensively or rebound effectively. Surprisingly, they did so because the one thing it could hang their hats on all season — sound defense — was largely missing.
ASU hit 55.8 percent of its field goals, part of a worsening trend for the Wildcats, a solid defensive team earlier this season that has now allowed opponents to shoot 50 percent or more three times in the past six games.
But the Sun Devils also did some things, Miller noted, that were uncharacteristically good. They made 22 of 24 free throws, despite having made just 62.9 percent over their first 17 Pac-12 games, and turned the ball over 10 times — despite averaging 16.8 turnovers per game in conference play before Sunday.
"There's always characteristics you look for when you play an opponent," Miller said, rattling off things the Sun Devils did better than normal. "You go through every statistic offensively. We had a really hard time guarding them individually in the second half, guarding the post and, when they needed big shots, I really believe they made every one of them."
That's pretty much the way ASU coach Herb Sendek saw it, too.
"We have maintained all along that if we could somehow get our turnovers in the neighborhood of 12 or fewer, if we could convert better at the line, that would put us in a much better position to be competitive and this afternoon both of those happened," Sendek said. "More than anything else, our guys made plays."
Of all of those plays, the one that may have hurt the Wildcats the most was Gilling's final three-pointer, giving ASU an 81-77 lead with 57 seconds left.
Gilling was 5 of 6 from three-point range, hitting at an even higher percentage than UA's Brendon Lavender, who hit 3 of 4 three-pointers in each half to total 18 points.
"He was a hot hand," Hill said of Gilling. "He got himself open. At the end of the game he made a great shot, a contested shot and it put a cushion on their lead."
UA cut it to 81-80 when Fogg made a three-point play with 51 seconds left but Fogg and guard Josiah Turner missed shots in the final seconds while ASU made all six of its final free throws.
The Wildcats were able to compensate for their equally porous defense in the first half, when they went on an 8-2 run to break free from a 36-36 tie and lead 44-38 at the half. But this time, especially after ASU went on a 7-0 run in the first 86 seconds after halftime, it wasn't going to happen.
UA's early-half struggles have been a sore point all season and, when added to its unusual troubles on defense Sunday, the Wildcats couldn't come back this time.
"We have some shortcomings we've been dealing with since November and we've found a way, really, over the last six weeks to not mask them but be a better team," Miller said. "Today, you could make the case that was one of our best offensive performances. But we gave up 87 points."
- Arizona Daily Star
Final score: Arizona 71, Arizona State 54
Location: Wells Fargo Arena, Tempe
What went down: Arizona guard Mark Lyons posted 24 points (8-15 FGs, 6-6 FTs) to lead the Wildcats to a big road win over the Sun Devils in Tempe.
Miller's record against ASU: 5-2
Bruce Pascoe's game story:
TEMPE — For 30 minutes Saturday, Arizona and ASU put on the kind of physical, intense and foul-plagued show that you'd expect from a heated intrastate rivalry.
During Arizona's 71-54 win over ASU at Wells Fargo Arena, neither team led by more than a basket for the first 18 minutes, seven players had two or more fouls at halftime, and Sun Devils forward Carrick Felix added a little spice with a first-half technical foul.
Even after Arizona took control of the game with an 11-0 run in the middle of the second half, the intensity never waned.
It's just that the seventh-ranked Wildcats (16-1 overall, 4-1 in the Pac-12) kept throwing fresh bodies at guys like Felix, who went 1 of 8 from the field with seven turnovers while logging 40 minutes.
There was also the sight of ASU forward Jonathan Gilling, who hit 5 of 6 threes in ASU's 87-80 win over UA at Tempe last season, taking just five shots and scoring six points in 37 minutes.
The Sun Devils (14-4, 3-2) did get 22 points and four assists from dynamic point guard Jahii Carson over 33 foul-plagued minutes. There was 14 points from Evan Gordon over 40 minutes, too, but that wasn't enough, either.
Eventually, UA's depth and defense wore out the Sun Devils, who were playing without suspended player Chris Colvin.
"You know the minutes that Jahii, Felix and Gordon were playing? I don't think those guys came out of the game," UA forward Solomon Hill said. "You can't ask those guys to play that high a level for 40 minutes. There's no Kobe Bryants on the court. So we continued to throw waves at them. ... When we've got a lot of new defenders on you, it's going to be pretty hard."
So even though Lyons picked up a quick two fouls within the first eight minutes of the game — and center Kaleb Tarczewski had two halfway through the first half while tangling with ASU's 7-foot-2-inch Jordan Bachynski — the Wildcats kept plowing ahead.
They needed not worry.
"We knew we were the deeper team," UA coach Sean Miller said. "That doesn't mean on a given night that's going to work ... but we can withstand foul trouble, and we don't have to get into the fatigue part of things nearly as much because we do play our bench, and our bench has really helped us."
Offensively, Lyons tied his season high with 24 points, Johnson had 19, and Hill had 13 points with five assists. But it was also defenders such as Brandon Ashley and even Jordin Mayes whom Miller was praising afterward.
Mayes didn't take a shot in 13 minutes but had one assist and played solid defense against the Sun Devils' strong-shooting perimeter players, and Ashley was a central figure, along with Parrom, in shutting down Felix.
Yes, Ashley. The 6-8 forward known for his considerable offensive skills but not, until Saturday, discussed much as a defender.
Miller said it was the best defensive performance Ashley has had yet, and Lyons was practically ready to invite him to the backcourt.
"Brandon Ashley — he defended like a guard, and he's 6-8," Lyons said. "We got the win because of his efforts, too. He was closing out with high hands, he was beating them to the spot. ... Usually, you don't see that from Brandon so that was good to see today."
Felix entered the game as the Sun Devils' second-leading scorer (15.1 points) and leading rebounder (8.1) but managed to hit only one three-pointer in seven attempts, missed his only two-point shot and turned the ball over seven times.
"I just needed to slow it down and play the game in the flow of the offense," Felix said. "I think I just got away from that today."
Felix took only two shots in the first half and, although he hit a three to pull ASU within four points with 15 minutes to go, missed four three-pointers in the final five minutes while the Sun Devils tried to stay in the game.
Overall, ASU shot just 39.1 percent and made just 5 of 20 three-point shots. It was the second consecutive game that UA has kept its opponent under 40 percent from the field after the Wildcats were burned by Oregon's 48.1percent shooting in their lone loss of the season on Jan. 10.
That's a good trend for the Wildcats to be on heading into another showdown Thursday against UCLA at McKale Center.
"One of the reasons that we ended up winning like we did was our defense really returned to us," Miller said. "I thought our defense fueled us and through the 12 nonconference games that's something we did very well, especially in the biggest games on the schedule. In today's game, we defended with a lot of purpose."
- Arizona Daily Star
Final score: Arizona 73, Arizona State 58
Location: McKale Center, Tucson
What went down: Arizona guard Nick Johnson scored 17 points (6-11 FGs), grabbed four rebounds and dished out three assists to help the Wildcats complete their season sweep of the Sun Devils.
Miller's record against ASU: 6-2
Bruce Pascoe's game story:
Before they took the McKale Center floor for a final time Saturday, the Arizona Wildcats already knew they were in the NCAA tournament.
They knew Utah beat Oregon earlier Saturday, meaning there was no shot at a share of the Pac-12 title.
And, just before their 73-58 win over ASU on Saturday, Oregon State upset Colorado — meaning the Wildcats didn't even need to beat the Sun Devils to get a first-round Pac-12 tournament bye.
But the game still mattered to the No. 18 Wildcats (24-6), who finished in a three-way tie for second place in the Pac-12 at 12-6 and will be the No. 4 seed in the Pac-12 tournament.
Very much.
You could see it in the way Nick Johnson returned to his all-out rhythm on both sides of the floor, leading the Wildcats with 17 points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals.
You could see in the senior day intensity of Kevin Parrom, who had 13 points on 4-for-8 shooting and seven rebounds.
You could see it in the way UA coach Sean Miller bearhugged Solomon Hill as he came off Olson Court for the final time, having posted 12 points and four rebounds.
You could see it when officials called a total of 10 fouls in the first three minutes of the second half, including simultaneous technicals by UA's Johnson and ASU's Chris Colvin.
You could see it in the way UA forced 17 ASU turnovers, scoring 21 points off them, allowing the Sun Devils just three offensive rebounds.
And, according to the Wildcats, they also saw it during workouts all week, enduring what Miller said may have been one of the hardest weeks of practice he's held in March.
"Our will to be a good team has never left us, and that was really apparent this week," Miller said. "Sometimes when you push a team as hard as we went this week you can get some back-push, so to speak, where a couple of guys don't really want to go as long or hard. We had none of that.
"Credit our seniors for that."
The seniors received the payoff Saturday, thanks to plenty of help from underclassmen such as Johnson, Kaleb Tarczewski (nine points, eight rebounds), Brandon Ashley (six points, six rebounds) and even Jordin Mayes (six points).
Collectively, while the Wildcats allowed ASU to shoot 46.5 percent overall from the field, their defense made a difference. Arizona had 10 steals and a 35-23 rebounding advantage that was not reminiscent of so many recent defensive efforts.
What's more, UA was relatively consistent in both halves. The Cats built a double-digit lead 15 minutes into the game, led 40-25 at halftime and, despite having their lead trimmed to just five points with 11:26 to go, went on a 22-7 run from there to put the game away. During the run, Johnson and Hill each had seven points, and Parrom added five.
"We had to keep the same pressure in the second half," said Hill, who had 12 points. "We continued to do it, because in games like Cal (when the Bears shot 62.5 percent after halftime), we didn't bring it out in the second half, and we ended up losing."
It was that 77-69 home loss to Cal on Feb. 10, as much as any, that cost the Wildcats a share of the Pac-12 title that UCLA won Saturday. Arizona finished tied for second with Cal and Oregon, a game behind the Bruins, and the Wildcats received the No. 4 seed because they have not beaten either of the teams they are tied with. They will play the winner of the No. 5 (Colorado) vs No. 12 (Oregon State) game on Thursday at 2:30 p.m. in Las Vegas.
"Instead of cutting down the nets today and at least sharing the Pac-12 championship with UCLA ... we didn't play good enough defense to win it," Miller said.
But what the Wildcats might have done Saturday, instead, was capture some much-needed momentum. Arizona had some good signs in its 74-69 loss at UCLA last Saturday, such as Johnson's turnaround and Mayes' helpful play off the bench, and put on display several more pieces that it will need in the postseason.
Johnson, who played below normal for much of February after contracting an illness in Washington, said he "felt good" after a week of focusing on defense in practice.
That may have been something of an understatement, considering Johnson's help on both sides of the ball.
"That's the Nick that's played with us the entire season. He knows this," Miller said. "If he's not energized defensively or playing with confidence on offense, we're not nearly as good of a team."
The Wildcats also may again have a backup combo guard, with Mayes stringing together 12 efficient minutes off the bench while Mark Lyons struggled with fouls and eventually left the game with 1:12 left after picking up a technical foul that was his fifth overall. Lyons also had no assists with three turnovers and shot 2 of 10 from the field.
Arizona also displayed some tenacity — and maybe some restraint — after the game turned physical and foul-plagued early in the second half.
Among other incidents, Parrom was whistled for two straight fouls, Ashley was called for blocking, and Johnson and ASU's Colvin were both assessed technical fouls.
"That was the most bizarre three minutes of basketball that I've ever coached in, played in or witnessed at any level, from the time that I was 2 to the time I'm 44," Miller said. "That's all I'm going to say. Extremely bizarre."
Miller said it almost came to the point where he wanted to call a timeout just to get his team a break from it all, and the Wildcats did initially suffer. They led 44-30 after the technicals, but ASU cut it to 48-43 with 11:26 to go.
However, UA took a 70-50 lead with 4:23 left to put the game away as the Sun Devils struggled with foul trouble.
Miller said it "wasn't in the cards" to play either forward Angelo Chol or guard Gabe York off the bench, but the coach did manage to play all four of his walk-ons as the Wildcats coasted happily into a postgame senior day ceremony.
Now, with a little extra motivation as a No. 4 seed next week, they hope to keep the good times going.
"We're not going to Vegas feeling good about winning the conference," Miller said. "Sometimes when you do that, the edge is taken off because you're thinking about the next tournament. Our focus right now is what we did this week — and that's to be the most ready we can be."
- Arizona Daily Star
Final score: Arizona 91, Arizona State 68
Location: McKale Center, Tucson
What went down: Arizona guard Nick Johnson dropped 17 points (6-9 FGs) to pass the 1,000-point mark for his career and lead the Wildcats to their third straight win over the Sun Devils and an 18-0 record overall.
Miller's record against ASU: 7-2
Bruce Pascoe's game story:
If you only had one game to see how the Arizona Wildcats are off to record-setting 18-0 start, Thursday's game would be a pretty good choice.
In a 91-68 win over Arizona State at McKale Center, the No. 1 Wildcats smothered the Sun Devils defensively, even initially doing so with dynamic ASU guard Jahii Carson, and gave new meaning to the word "share" on offense.
All seven of the Wildcats' regular rotation players scored in double figures for the first time this season, while leading scorer Nick Johnson became the 48th player in Arizona history to reach the 1,000-point mark when he scored 17 to lead the Wildcats.
"No question, it's hard to have seven guys in double figures," UA coach Sean Miller said.
Miller went on to note how much better UA is when forward Brandon Ashley is assertive, as he was in the second half while scoring eight of his 10 points, but it was also true that all seven of the Wildcats had their moments of assertiveness.
That included Gabe York, who was the last to reach 10 points when he hit a three-pointer with 2:04 left. York was 3 for 5 from three-point range, hitting his last shot as Miller began to substitute heavily.
"We're unselfish and we can score at any position," guard T.J. McConnell said.
They can also defend any position. UA (18-0, 5-0 Pac-12) not only slowed down Carson in the first half, with a tag-team defensive effort that included efforts from McConnell, Johnson and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, but also kept ASU center Jordan Bachynski from making a single field goal.
Bachynski was 0 for 3 from the field, though he managed six rebounds, three blocks and two steals. The 7-foot-2 Canadian finished with three points after entering the game with an average of 12.7.
"They're just a really good team with great size," Bachynski said.
Bachynski's struggles were evidence to Miller that UA center Kaleb Tarczewski has become a "great low post defender," but he also praised Tarczewski's ability to stop Carson off of ball screens.
Then again, just about everybody played a part in making Carson work exceptionally hard for his game-high 20 points. Carson missed his first six shots and was just 2 for 10 at halftime, though he managed to reach 20 by taking 19 field goals and seven free throws.
"T.J. did a good job of just making all his shots tough," Johnson said. "Seven for 19 that's a pretty effective defensive performance, and some by myself. It was just making his job hard and when he comes off ball screens, it was just the big fella (Tarczewski) staying with him. We really stressed that."
The Wildcats also strived to limit Carson in transition, where he is especially dangerous.
"He's at his best in transition and that's where our defense had to start," Miller said. "You've gotta build walls around him. With few exceptions we did that."
Along the way, Carson was rejected for blocks not only by old friend Johnson but also by McConnell, who won't forget that block anytime soon.
"I get a block about every 40 games," McConnell said. "So I'd say it's up there."
Because of Arizona's defense, which held ASU (13-5, 2-3) to just 23.1 percent shooting in the first half, the game was really never in doubt after the first 10 minutes.
In fact, by the time Johnson scored his eighth point to hit the 1,000-point mark, with 7:14 left in the half, the Wildcats already had a 31-12 lead.
Johnson finished with a typical fill-the-box-score effort, with two assists, two rebounds and two blocks to go with 6-for-9 shooting.
Tarczewski and Hollis-Jefferson each had eight rebounds, with Tarczewski adding 12 points and two blocks.
Arizona had jumped all over the Sun Devils early, going on an 18-3 run in the first half and taking a 42-28 lead at halftime.
The Wildcats then took leads of up to 24 points in the second half to put the game away in front of a capacity "red-out" game in the intrastate rivalry.
The only drama was how many players would score in double figures, with the previous high of six being set against Fairleigh Dickinson, and how many would get into the game.
Miller eventually played 15 of his 16 players.
Freshman forward Zach Peters played for the first time since Dec. 3 and Johnson's brother, walk-on Chris Johnson, played for the first time all season since he was ineligible for the fall semester as a transfer from Cal State-San Bernardino.
- Arizona Daily Star
Final score: Arizona State 69, Arizona 66 (2OT)
Location: Wells Fargo Arena, Tempe
What went down: Arizona's Aaron Gordon (13 points, 10 rebounds) and Kaleb Tarczewski (13 points, 13 rebounds) both posted double-doubles but it wasn't enough as the Wildcats narrowly fell to the Sun Devils in double overtime.
Miller's record against ASU: 7-3
Bruce Pascoe's game story:
TEMPE — After a frustrating, draining 50 minutes of basketball Friday, the Arizona Wildcats couldn't wait to leave Wells Fargo Arena.
So they did.
Their usual tough defense and rebounding was unable to fully compensate for a shaky offensive performance in a 69-66 double-overtime loss at ASU, with Sun Devil guard Jermaine Marshall making a go-ahead layup with 14.7 seconds left and Jordan Bachynski blocking a subsequent UA shot before Jahii Carson threw down an exclamation point of a slam before the buzzer.
After all that, and after Nick Johnson's long three-point attempt at the buzzer missed and ASU fans stormed the court to celebrate the Sun Devils' first win over a team ranked as high as No. 2, the Wildcats held a locker-room meeting and then quickly bolted for their bus ride home.
No players were allowed to speak to the media and questions for UA coach Sean Miller were cut off after three minutes 11 seconds, roughly a fifth of the usual time.
Maybe that was just as well. Clearly, Miller wasn't really in the mood to talk about this one.
The Wildcats out-rebounded ASU 54-35, held the Sun Devils to just five offensive rebounds, kept the Sun Devils to just 40 percent overall shooting and 33.3 percent from beyond the arc.
But Arizona was even worse offensively. The Wildcats shot 35.9 percent, made only 25 percent of their threes, and, in what was probably the most alarming stat, were just 16 for 30 from the free-throw line.
The Wildcats also had 15 turnovers and just nine assists on their 23 made field goals.
When you have that much trouble scoring, well, maybe nothing else can save you. Not even defense and rebounding.
"Our offense is continuing to put more and more pressure on our defense," Miller said. "You can only guard so well. We missed a ton of free throws and, heck, we've missed a ton of free throws all year.
"Eventually it's going to run its course and you're going to lose because we're leaving too many points on the table. In the first half we had five or six shots that were the best that we can generate and we missed all of them."
The loss dropped Arizona to 23-2 overall and 10-2 in the Pac-12, entering a road swing to Utah and Colorado next week. ASU improved to 19-6 and 8-4 in the Pac-12, all but clinching an NCAA tournament berth, barring a late-season collapse. Marshall led ASU with 29 points while Carson had 17 points and six assists.
Bachynski, who had eight blocks Friday after recording nine and the game-saver six days earlier against Oregon, won't be forgetting his last block Friday anytime soon.
"That block will go down, as of right now, as my favorite of all time," Bachynski said. "Just because I've only beaten Arizona once. And to do that when they're ranked so high and when we're trying to get into the tournament, that's a great game on our résumé. Anytime we can beat the Wildcats, it's really special."
It was a big change of events from a month ago, when Arizona beat up ASU 91-68 at McKale Center.
"They're a great team. They play well together and it was a lot of fun," Bachynski said. "If we didn't believe we could have won tonight, we wouldn't have. We believed we could win. That manifested tonight."
One huge reason things were different this time: Marshall sat out the Jan. 16 game at McKale because of a groin injury.
This time he scored 29 points on 11-for-23 shooting.
"Jermaine Marshall did an outstanding job," Miller said. "He's a phenomenal player. It was a low-scoring game so Carson and Marshall combined for 46 of their 69 points so I give those guys a lot of credit. Arizona State is a very good team."
"We knew coming here it would be a tough game and that's what we found ourselves in."
After Marshall hit the go-ahead shot, and Bachynski blocked T.J. McConnell, Carson sprinted downcourt for his emphatic dunk. ASU fans then charged the court with 0.7 seconds left, forcing referees to usher them off the court, just as they had to at Cal when the Wildcats lost there on Feb. 1.
When order was restored, the Wildcats went to Johnson, who threw up a final shot from near the halfcourt line but it bounced off the rim and fans again stormed the court.
Johnson finished with 14 points while McConnell had 17.
The first overtime period was just as crazy as the regulation periods. Carson and Johnson each missed a pair of free throws midway through the first overtime, and with the game tied at 57 with a minute left in the period, Carson turned the ball over on an offensive charge.
But then McConnell threw a pass toward Rondae Hollis-Jefferson that was intercepted, giving ASU the ball with 51 seconds left. Then Carson drove inside but put up an errant layup, and it was UA's turn to give it a shot with 22 seconds left before Johnson missed a three and Hollis-Jefferson was too far behind the glass to pop his offensive rebound back.
ASU had a chance for a final heave with a second left, but Carson threw up a missed halfcourt shot and the game went into double overtime at 57-57.
In the second half of regulation, the Sun Devils held a 51-49 lead heading into the final minute but a turnover by ASU's Shaquielle McKissic led to a transition layup from McConnell that tied it at 51 with 41 seconds left.
ASU had the ball with 40 seconds left but Carson couldn't find a shot or a pass to make and the Sun Devils called timeout with 21.7 seconds left. ASU still couldn't get off a decent shot afterward, and Carson was called for a turnover, giving UA the ball with 13 seconds left.
But Arizona couldn't do any better. The Wildcats went to Aaron Gordon with five seconds left, and he missed a hook shot from 8 feet out, and even though Hollis-Jefferson grabbed the rebound, Johnson missed a shot at the buzzer, sending the game into overtime.
- Arizona Daily Star
Final score: Arizona 73, Arizona State 49
Location: McKale Center, Tucson
What went down: Arizona's Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Brandon Ashley and Stanley Johnson all scored 13 points apiece and combined for 18 rebounds to lead the Wildcats to a 24-point win over the Sun Devils.
Miller's record against ASU: 8-3
Bruce Pascoe's game story:
For Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, only 90 seconds or so separated his start Sunday from his usual entrance off the bench in Arizona Wildcats games.
Oh, and something else.
"It's (about) the same besides, you know, getting your name called" during introductions, Hollis-Jefferson said. "Who doesn't like that?"
A subtle change for Hollis-Jefferson, maybe, but overall the changes UA showed in its 73-49 destruction of ASU at McKale Center on Sunday were dramatic.
The No. 8 Wildcats charged into the new year with a new lineup, a newly renovated defense and even some newfound success from the free-throw line.
Saying he was just trying to change things up after a 71-67 loss to UNLV before a 12-day layoff, UA coach Sean Miller also gave a first career start to guard Elliott Pitts over Gabe York and may have been the first person on the planet to take Stanley Johnson out of a starting lineup when he went instead with Hollis-Jefferson at small forward.
"I don't ask his permission," Miller said, smiling. "I mean, it's not a big deal. Stanley's part of the team and he works hard. I have no ill feeling toward anything he did. He played an excellent game and at halftime, he might have been our best player."
Johnson scored all of his 13 points in the first half when UA built a 45-25 lead before halftime, jumping right back in the starting lineup in the second half. His 13 points tied Brandon Ashley and Hollis-Jefferson for team-high scoring honors, while Johnson added seven rebounds and a steal — though he did commit three turnovers and pick up four fouls that limited him to just 25 minutes.
In other words, it was another day of fast-paced learning for the expected one-and-done freshman, who is a projected lottery pick in the June NBA Draft.
"He didn't play maybe as well as he's capable of in the second half but he'll learn from it and we need him to continue to grow," Miller said. "All of these guys when they come here — whether they're here for a year or four years — it's all of our jobs as coaches to make them better, to give them things that maybe they didn't have when they showed up here."
While Johnson figures to float back into the starting lineup, it may not be as clear whether York will regain his spot. Even though Miller had started the same lineup for the Wildcats' first 13 games, he said in the preseason that he might change lineups — and he appears to be thinking about that again at this point of the season.
"We want to just start off with a different group, a group that has done things the right way," Miller said. "That's not a slight to Gabe York or Stanley Johnson. And who we start for the next game, I'm not sure. This year we might have to move the lineup around some. That might bring out the best in our team."
Whether it was the lineup or not, the Wildcats did bring out their best defense of the season. The 32.6 percent shooting the Sun Devils put up was the lowest opponent field-goal percentage the Wildcats have given up all season, and the Sun Devils' 22 turnovers tied for the second-most ever at ASU under coach Herb Sendek.
And while UA only outscored ASU by four points in the second half, the Wildcats kept the heat on defensively, allowing the Sun Devils to shoot only 27.3 percent after halftime while building leads of up to 25 points.
"I give Arizona a lot of credit," ASU forward Savon Goodman said. "They did a great job defensively against us and they stuck to their plan.
"We didn't execute our offense well and we were very careless with the ball."
Arizona scored 21 points off those 22 ASU turnovers — though ASU managed to score 20 off the Wildcats' 15 turnovers — and the Sun Devils also collected just six offensive rebounds and were out-rebounded overall 33-23.
That was a pretty big difference for a UA team that let UNLV shoot 44 percent and swipe 14 offensive rebounds 12 days earlier.
"There were times we broke down mentally, but for the most part we played a great defensive game," Hollis-Jefferson said. "For a team to score under 50 (points) in college, and that's a good team offensively, that's a big accomplishment. So I would say kudos to our defense."
Miller had vowed to "rekindle our defense" in practice last week after UNLV's Christian Wood and Rashad Vaughn carved it up on Dec. 23 and, sure enough, Hollis-Jefferson said Miller put a big emphasis on it.
"For a team to score 70 on us he doesn't like that," Hollis-Jefferson said. "He takes pride on defense. That's the main thing he talks about. So it was pretty tough for us in practice. Close out and all that extra stuff — we had to do it, and some."
They also had to shoot more free throws. UA entered the game shooting just 64.9 percent from the line, and Miller had suggested some of the Wildcats might want to spend their entire Christmas break shooting free throws.
Certainly, the Wildcats did upon returning to practice on Dec. 28, and, lo and behold, they made 16 of 19 from the line against ASU, their second-best percentage (84.2) of the season.
"We're going to get better from the line," Miller said. "I don't expect it to become all of a sudden to become 'wow, you guys don't miss.' But tonight's performance from the line is more about who we are than who we've been.
"And I hope moving forward that's one of many things we keep improving."
- Arizona Daily Star
Final score: Arizona State 81, Arizona 78
Location: Wells Fargo Arena, Tempe
What went down: Arizona point guard T.J. McConnell dropped a season-high 25 points (11-19 FGs, 3-4 3-pointers), grabbed five rebounds and dished out four assists but it wasn't enough as the Wildcats lost their second straight game at Wells Fargo Arena.
Miller's record against ASU: 8-4
Bruce Pascoe's game story:
TEMPE — Sensing immediately that something was wrong with his defense, Arizona coach Sean Miller said he called timeout after about 90 seconds Saturday.
Actually, it wasn't even a minute. Fifty-five seconds, to be exact.
If that was an indication time moved slowly, agonizingly slowly, for the No. 6 Wildcats in their 81-78 upset loss at ASU, you can imagine how Miller felt after the game. His defense had turned into the same sort of sieve it did late in losses to UNLV and Oregon State, only this time it leaked for most of the game.
"We didn't have it, and we never got it," he said of his "D."
In their second straight loss at Wells Fargo Arena — after ASU outlasted the poor-shooting Wildcats 69-66 in double overtime last season — Arizona this time failed on defense. The Wildcats allowed the Sun Devils to shoot an even 50 percent from the field and make 7 of 15 three-pointer attempts, including a 25-foot game-clinching dagger by Bo Barnes with 54 seconds to go.
Barnes' three gave ASU a 75-68 lead, and while there were still many timeouts and turnovers and made baskets that made the final seconds interesting, Miller knew where it was all heading.
He did much earlier in the game, apparently.
"Sometimes as a game plays itself out, and you deep down feel like you didn't deserve to win, and really that's how I felt," Miller said. "We broke down way, way too many times.
"ASU was the better team today. They played harder, moved the ball better, executed, and they earned the right to win."
The loss dropped the Cats to 20-3 overall and 8-2 in the Pac-12, where they sat in a loss-column tie with Utah in first place before the Utes faced Colorado later Saturday. The loss may have dealt the Wildcats a blow toward earning a No. 1 NCAA tournament seed, and they still have four road games remaining, including one at Utah on Feb. 28.
ASU improved to 12-11 and 4-6, having won four of its past six and, it hopes, having turned a corner for good after an 0-4 start to Pac-12 play.
"This one validates our season," said ASU forward Savon Goodman, who led the Sun Devils with 15 points and nine rebounds. "We've been fighting adversity."
The Sun Devils started Pac-12 play with a heavy dose of adversity, losing 73-49 to UA at McKale Center, continued with three more losses and, even when things were going better, were dealt an overtime loss to Oregon last week.
This was different. Much different.
You could see it from the deeper-than-normal ASU student crowd of 2,034 — a student crowd Sendek said was "incredible" among the overall attendance of 10,876 — and in the quieter-than-normal quarter of the crowd that was pulling for the Wildcats.
UA fans knew something was wrong, too.
ASU scored on two early possessions before Miller's first timeout and kept going. The Sun Devils shot 53.3 percent in the first half while taking a 41-34 halftime lead.
"I guess we just weren't ready, to be honest," said guard T.J. McConnell, who had a season-high 25 points. "When we have a team that's not ready, we're not going to win against any team."
It was only the second time the Wildcats had trailed at halftime in Pac-12 play — Stanford led them 41-39 in UA's win Jan. 22 at Maples Pavilion — and the Wildcats led Oregon State 21-20 in their Jan. 11 loss at Corvallis.
But while the Cats were initially able to offset their defensive troubles with good shooting — they led by seven with nine minutes left in the first half — it all caught up to them when their shooting slumped.
Arizona shot just 40.5 percent in the first half and was particularly hurt inside: ASU out-rebounded the Cats 21-17 and scored 22 points in the paint to UA's 14 in the first half.
While Arizona managed to shoot 50 percent in the second half, it was just 6 of 16 from three-point range for the game and forced to rely heavily on McConnell, who had his season high in scoring but also four turnovers to four assists.
"T.J. did everything in his power to give us a chance," Miller said.
In the first half, Brandon Ashley and Kaleb Tarczewski both went 1 for 5 from the field with three rebounds each, and while they were both more impactful in the second half, Miller wasn't too wild about the Wildcats' interior defense the entire game.
Because while Barnes, Jonathan Gilling and Gerry Blakes each had two three-pointers for ASU, which was exactly Miller's biggest stated concern before the game, the Sun Devils also beat up UA inside.
Having been limping along all season without departed shot-blocker Jordan Bachynski, the Sun Devils managed to outplay UA inside by getting help from big man Eric Jacobsen and Goodman, who made four layups over the first five minutes of the second half to help ASU expand its 41-34 halftime lead to nine points.
From there, Arizona never recovered.
The Wildcats cut ASU's lead to 65-63 with five minutes to go, but Blakes hit a three-pointer to put the Sun Devils up 68-63, and ASU carried a five-point lead into the final media timeout, with 3:17 left.
The Wildcats didn't get within three the rest of the way until McConnell hit a three-pointer with one second left before the buzzer sounded.
"They picked on a number of our guys," Miller said. "And the way that ASU plays offense from one side to the next really tests your discipline, and we had very poor discipline. A number of shots happened because we lost sight of the ball or our man, reaching at the end of the clock. All of the things that contribute to not winning the game, we did."
- Arizona Daily Star
Final score: Arizona 94, Arizona State 82
Location: Wells Fargo Arena, Tempe
What went down: In a heated game between the rivals, Arizona guard Gabe York dropped 22 points (5-12 FGs, 4-7 3-pointers), collected five rebounds and had six assists to lead the Wildcats.
Miller's record against ASU: 9-4
Bruce Pascoe's game story:
TEMPE — Gabe York might be a Californian like most of his Arizona Wildcats teammates, but let's just say he's been socialized a bit.
You could tell it the moment he lifted his arms and grinned in the final moments of Arizona's 94-82 win over ASU on Sunday, having led the Wildcats to their first victory at their in-state rivals' home in three seasons with 22 points, five rebounds and six assists.
Afterward, you could tell it by the way York's eyes lit up when he was asked about that moment.
It was ASU-UA. Not quite the tense football rivalry, to be sure. But a rivalry game nonetheless.
And one that the UA had lost in Tempe the past two years, with teams that York played a key role on.
"It was amazing," York said. With "all the mess they talk and all the things you hear throughout the game, especially the last three years, it was definitely fulfilling to go clap my hands, raise my hands and just let them know it was a hard-fought win and that we did it."
As usual, UA players and coach Sean Miller spoke respectfully about ASU after the game and about how all Pac-12 road games will be tough this season. That will probably be true, of course, but what was also true about Sunday was that a certain emotion was in the air that you don't always feel, even in conference play.
After Arizona tore off an 18-2 run to take a 41-35 halftime lead in a game it ultimately won by shooting 55.6 percent and outrebounding ASU 37-30, things became noticeably more heated.
Some examples:
Normally mild-mannered UA center Kaleb Tarczewski questioned an official repeatedly as he walked downcourt after a foul under the basket and was called for a technical.Arizona coach Sean Miller tossed his coat aside in apparent disagreement over the fact that Kadeem Allen did not draw a foul on a drive to the basket. York was clocked — or, as officials ruled, not clocked — by an elbow during a tussle for the rebound. Then, with just over a minute left, ASU coach Bobby Hurley was called for two technicals within 14 seconds while disputing the officiating, earning himself an automatic ejection. They were his third and fourth technicals of the season, his first at ASU.
"I really wouldn't have changed anything that I did today as far as anything that happened, as that's as far as I'm going to comment about any of that," Hurley said. "Other than I always want the spotlight to be on the performers, the guys in the game, and it shouldn't be about anything more than that, and that goes for all of us. It should always be about the players. Players should decide the game."
Ultimately, they did. Neither the technical from Tarczewski, which led to two free throws and the cutting of UA's lead to five points, nor the Hurley technicals made enough difference in the final margin.
What did: York's 22 points, Allonzo Trier's 20 and another double-double from Ryan Anderson (10 points, 10 rebounds), plus the fact that Arizona successfully reinserted Tarczewski (eight points, five rebounds) after he missed the past five weeks into a center rotation that also includes the fast-rising Dusan Ristic (10 points).
Hurley's technicals, however, did give York a chance to keep working on the confidence he's shown more often as a senior this season.
York went to the line 10 times in the final 1:18, hit eight of them — and actually beat himself up over missing two.
"Coach trusts me to shoot free throws," York said. "I've gotta get about 1,700 free throws in before the next game. Can't miss two like that. But it was a great win for us."
The win moved Arizona to 13-1 overall and 1-0 in the Pac-12 leading up to a game at UCLA on Thursday, while ASU dropped to 10-4 and 0-1. UA will also face re-energized USC in Los Angeles on Saturday before opening home conference play on Jan. 14 against Washington.
While three road games aren't an easy way to start conference play, the fact that the Wildcats have older guys like York probably helps.
With four 3-pointers early in the second half of UA's win at Gonzaga on Dec. 5, and an all-around game that included another four 3-pointers Sunday, York is showing the kind of veteran's confidence that thrives in home or adverse road situations alike.
"That's the growth of a player," Miller said. "They tend to be more of the same regardless of where the game's played, and Gabe's that guy for us."
As York's well-documented story at the UA goes, it started at the bottom. York was a seldom-used freshman reserve, a role player as a sophomore, a key player last year and now a full-time starter and team leader.
"The different seat on the bus now is that he's a senior leader, and one of our best players," Miller said. "If you just look at what he's done at Gonzaga and at ASU, not just because he's making shots but because he's a better defensive player and gives us our team confidence."
York also didn't shy away from a tough situation Sunday. When ASU's Willie Atwood appeared to connect with York's forehead while clearing space after a rebound, York fell backward.
That prompted officials to review the play, though they ultimately made no call.
"They said that I didn't get hit," York said. "So I told the refs, 'You can come see me tomorrow when I have a black eye.'"
Still, York shrugged it off, saying Atwood told him it was unintentional and that York believed him.
"It was, I guess, a hard play on the ball," York said. "We're not too worried about it."
Not long after the York-Atwood incident, though, Tarczewski found himself worried about the officiating, so much so that he drew his technical.
That, in turn, earned Tarczewski a mini-lecture from Miller as he returned to the bench, though Miller excused his senior center somewhat because he was playing his first game in more than five weeks. Tarczewski suffered a stress reaction and muscle strain in his left foot against Santa Clara on Nov. 26.
"It's an emotional game, and someone like Kaleb, being out for as long as he has on the sidelines, it's not easy all of a sudden to get out there and play," Miller said. "So from our perspective, we just want to make sure he controls his emotions."
On a day like Sunday, at a place like ASU, that wasn't easy for anyone on either side.
- Arizona Daily Star
Final score: Arizona 99, Arizona State 61
Location: McKale Center, Tucson
What went down: Arizona guard Allonzo Trier posted 20 points (5-11 FGs, 8-9 FTs) and eight rebounds while Kaleb Tarczewski collected 15 rebounds to lead the Wildcats to a 38-point win, UA's largest victory over the Sun Devils during the Sean Miller era.
Miller's record against ASU: 10-4
Bruce Pascoe's game story:
One of the things Sean Miller often talks about during the inevitable struggles of the early season is how the Arizona Wildcats might look in "February or March" when the wrinkles are out, roles are defined and experience is gained.
Well, it's mid-February now. And the Wildcats look pretty good.
Dominating, in fact, during a 99-61 win over ASU on Wednesday that pulled the Wildcats into a half-game lead in first place in the Pac-12.
Arizona pretty much maxed out its considerable size advantage inside to score 52 points in the paint and out-rebound the Sun Devils by 24 - and locked into a defense that held ASU to just 32.3 percent shooting.
Although the win moved the Wildcats to 22-5 overall and 10-4 in the Pac-12, where they remain in a first-place loss-column tie with Oregon, Miller stopped short of saying this is fully what he was hoping for.
"We're improving," he said, noting again the stream of issues the Wildcats' roster has suffered from this season, including Elliott Pitts' non-school issue that now has prompted him to leave the team for the rest of the season.
"The character of our guys — they have handled it as well as any group could have."
But nearly all of that appears to be behind them now.
The Wildcats have Allonzo Trier just about fully back from a broken hand, after Trier scored 20 points and had eight rebounds Wednesday in his best effort since returning on Feb. 6.
They also have Kaleb Tarczewski continuing to play the best of his college career, pulling down 15 rebounds Wednesday, after missing seven nonconference games with a foot injury.
The only piece they really don't have is Pitts, their seventh man and arguably top perimeter defender when he disappeared from action Dec 9.
Pitts has been traveling and practicing with the team but did not show up Wednesday night. When asked about Pitts' absence after the game, Miller said the junior forward " has stepped away from our team for personal reasons for the remainder of the year."
Miller said he couldn't elaborate further, though he said it was Pitts' choice to leave.
The fact that Miller has allowed Pitts to practice and travel had suggested he wasn't the one holding him back, and he's spoken highly of Pitts' character.
"Him and I have had a number of talks over the past couple of weeks," Miller said. "Him and I both felt that it would be in his best interest to focus on the task at hand academically and obviously remain here at the University of Arizona and finish his academic work."
As they have been since Pitts went missing on the floor Dec. 9 against Fresno State, the Wildcats soaked up the 21.3 average minutes Pitts left behind. On Wednesday, Miller played all of his available scholarship players, gave 21 minutes to Mark Tollefsen and another 17 to Dusan Ristic off the bench, and put in walk-ons Jacob Hazzard and Paulo Cruz near the end of the game.
As it turned out, Hazzard had the ball in his hands when the Wildcats had a chance to break the century mark for the first time in regulation this season, but he dribbled out the remaining seconds.
It wasn't as if the Wildcats needed any more points. Not only was their 38-point margin of victory their biggest of the Pac-12 season, but it also tied the most they had scored in regulation all season, having beaten Washington 99-67 on Jan. 14 (UA scored 101 at USC on Jan. 9, but that was in a four-overtime loss).
The Wildcats' dominance sagged only during a stretch in the first half when they kicked away an early 11-point lead. But UA finished the first half strongly and continued their roll into the second half, going on a 14-2 run after halftime to go ahead 52-26 just over four minutes into the second half.
From there, the game was no contest.
"It was a good game for all of us," Tarczewski said. "We were really locked in on all of our principles."
UA took a 65-35 lead midway through the second half when Kadeem Allen scored the second of three baskets within a span of 1:12.
Those three baskets totaled seven points, more than he scored in any of UA's previous four games while battling illnesses.
In the first half, Arizona dominated inside and held ASU (14-13, 4-10) to just 24.2 percent shooting while taking a 38-24 halftime lead.
Trier had 11 points in the first half, and Gabe York had nine to lead Arizona, which allowed ASU to wipe away an early 11-point lead, then went on a 13-1 run toward the end of the half to regain a double-digit lead.
The Wildcats shot 45.5 percent from the field and scored 24 of their 38 points in the paint. That, and UA's 27-17 rebounding advantage, allowed the Wildcats to overcome their 2-for-10 three-point shooting.
The Wildcats kept the Sun Devils scoreless for the first 4:23 of the game, leading 8-2 when ASU finally received a layup by Gerry Blakes. The Wildcats went on to lead by up to 11, 15-4 with 12:32 left, while initially outrebounding the Sun Devils 12-2.
But ASU went on a 13-2 run to tie the game at 17 on a three-pointer by Obinna Oleka and go ahead 20-19 on a three from Blakes. At the same time, the Wildcats hit only one of eight field goal attempts.
The Sun Devils couldn't keep the lead, however, making just one of seven shots while the Wildcats went ahead 26-22 on a three-pointer by Gabe York with 3:45 to go.
- Arizona Daily Star
Final score: Arizona 91, Arizona State 75
Location: McKale Center, Tucson
What went down: Arizona forward Lauri Markkanen scored a career-high 30 points while shooting 12 for 18 from the field and 4 for 7 from 3-point range. Three other Wildcats also scored in double figures: Kadeem Allen had 18 points, Dusan Ristic had 16 points and Kobi Simmons added 13 points.
Miller's record against ASU: 11-4
Bruce Pascoe's game story:
Because Lauri Markkanen grew up about 5,400 miles away from Arizona, basketball rivalry games could be something else.
Like when his native Finland played neighboring Sweden. Or Russia, that country on the other side. There might be a good crowd, a little tension between the neighboring players, in a sport that can fight for attention with soccer and hockey.
In other words, nothing quite like this. Before Markkanen threw down a career-high 30 points to lead Arizona over ASU 91-75 on Thursday, he entered McKale Center with a full student section repeatedly chanting and taunting Sun Devils coach Bobby Hurley.
He heard what was probably the loudest McKale Center noise to date this season, even if, thanks in part to his heroics, the game was never really competitive.
“Of course we had great rivalries against Sweden and Russia, but this is the first time a crowd like this,” Markkanen said. “So of course it’s a little bit different.”
You could say he adapted pretty well. Fellow European Dusan Ristic, who has already been through four ASU games, almost singlehandedly blew the game open at the beginning, scoring nine of his 16 points in the first four minutes while UA built an early 14-2 lead.
Then Markkanen began to take over, while a few other positives happened for the Wildcats, too: Kadeem Allen put in a beyond workman-like 18 points, eight assists, four steals and four turnovers, while Kobi Simmons broke out of a brief offensive slump with 13 points on 5-for-9 shooting.
While the Wildcats slumped defensively in the second half, allowing ASU to score 50 points and shoot 56.7 percent after halftime, Arizona also clobbered the Sun Devils on the glass with a 38-22 rebounding edge.
But throughout it all, Markkanen was the focal point. He hit 4 of 7 3-pointers and also pulled down eight rebounds for the Wildcats, who moved to 16-2 overall and 5-0 in the Pac-12 with the win. His scoring was the highest of any UA player this season, while the Wildcats’ 91 points matched their season high set on Jan. 1 at Stanford.
Markkanen also had no turnovers and made 2 of 4 free throws.
“I can’t believe he missed two free throws,” UA coach Sean Miller said jokingly, otherwise making it clear he had nothing but praise for his Finnish freshman. “He was spectacular. He was above and beyond a freshman. Obviously, he’s an incredible offensive player who really is improving on defense.”
Miller noted that Markkanen is even serious than he is – “you guys say I’m all business, he’s all business,” Miller said — and, in fact, Markkanen’s intensity has occasionally hurt him defensively as he ran into foul trouble while trying to improve.
That wasn’t an issue Thursday. Markkanen had only two fouls and managed to play 30 minutes, meaning he averaged a point a minute for the second straight game.
“He had 30 points in 30 minutes (against ASU) and 22 in 22 minutes against Colorado,” Miller said. “I’m thinking about playing him 40 minutes in the next game to see if he gets 40.”
Would be hard to blame Miller for trying. There was one span of a minute and 15 seconds when Markkanen played like he could have scored much, much more.
After Ristic and the Wildcats stepped on the Sun Devils right after tipoff, with Ristic’s early scoring helping Arizona take leads of 9-0 and 14-2, Arizona went ahead 20-8 on an alley-oop dunk by Rawle Alkins on a feed from Parker Jackson-Cartwright.
Then, after ASU cut it to 20-12, Markkanen hit three straight threes over that 75-second span to put UA ahead 29-12.
“The crowd got crazy and as he made the first two, coach kept making the assumption like he made two in a row so keep giving it to him,” Allen said. “So we kept looking for him and he kept knocking them down.”
After Markkanen’s third three, from the exact same spot in the right corner as his second, ASU coach Bobby Hurley called a timeout, but the Wildcats didn’t let up. They led by up to 24 points the rest of the half.
Arizona went on to a 45-25 halftime lead and after three minutes of the second half, the Wildcats slipped midway through the second. ASU cut their lead to 13 points twice, shooting 55 percent through the first 12 minutes of the half and out-rebounding the Wildcats 11-10.
The Sun Devils managed to hit 10 of 18 3-pointers after going 0 for 9 in the first half from long range.
But Arizona went back ahead 76-58 less than two minutes later, with Allen hitting an 18-footer and then grabbing a steal that led to a layup by Simmons with 6:38 left. The Wildcats took a 20-point lead, 78-58, when Alkins fed Simmons for an alley-oop layup with 5:20 and UA held on to comfortable leads the rest of the way.
Still, Miller wasn’t too comfortable. He worried that the Wildcats’ poor defensive effort in the second half might carry over into next week, when UA will play at USC and UCLA.
But at the same time, the big picture also looked pretty good for a team with only eight active scholarship players. The Wildcats were again without the suspended Allonzo Trier for the 18th game.
“We’re a confident group, we’re a confident team,” Miller said. “Sometimes we don’t finish games. We don’t have that excellent play for the entirety.”
- Arizona Daily Star
The Arizona Wildcats have played 15 games against ASU during the Sean Miller era. Here's a look at the rivalry by the numbers in those 15 games:
Miller's overall record against ASU: 11-4
Miller's record in Tucson: 7-1
Miller's record in Tempe: 4-3
Total points: Arizona: 1,177 | ASU: 987
Point differential: Arizona has outscored ASU by 190 points under Miller.
Average margin of victory: 18.8 points
Average margin of defeat: 4.3 points
Longest win streak: 3 games
Current streak: Won last 3
Largest win: 38 points (Feb. 17, 2016)
Largest loss: 7 points (March 4, 2012)
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