Seen and heard from Thursday's night's game between Arizona and Utah in Salt Lake City.
Call him Kerr
Typically, an athlete plays with his or her last name on the back of their jerseys.
Arizona freshman Kerr Kriisa went a different direction.
Kriisa, who is named after and wears the same number as former UA guard Steve Kerr, made his Wildcats debut Thursday night. He wore his first name — Kerr — on his back.
As pointed out by @BrucePascoe, Kerr Kriisa has “Kerr” on the back of his jersey. Pretty good marketing. https://t.co/z5FwlYJ599
— Justin Spears (@JustinESports) February 5, 2021
Kriisa checked into the game at 15:09 in the first half and recorded two assists in a four-minute stint. His first one fired up the Arizona bench; Kriisa seemed equally as excited to make his first impact play.
Utah welcomes back families to sporting events
Last week, Utah announced that it was allowing families of student-athletes to attend sporting events for winter and spring games. Each Utah student-athlete will be allowed four passes for family members for each event.
Utah is allowing the families of its players attend a game for the first time this season. pic.twitter.com/KWxt3fPcJp
— The Wildcaster (@TheWildcaster) February 4, 2021
Roughly 50-60 family members attended Thursday’s game at the Huntsman Center.
For Ty
To remember Utah running back Ty Jordan, who died in December, the Utes have created a memorial scholarship. The Ty Jordan Memorial Scholarship will be awarded to a student-athlete in the football program “who exemplifies the inspiring qualities that Jordan displayed through his work ethic, positivity and perseverance through adversity,” according to the university.
Utah football coach Kyle Whittingham and his wife, Jamie, pledged $100,000 to the scholarship foundation.
Millers everywhere
Parents of UA players aren’t allowed to attend Arizona games this season, but the father of UA staffer David Miller figured out a way in the Huntsman Center on Thursday.
He called the game for Fox Sports 1.
Dave Miller worked as the analyst on Thursday while Jim Kozimor called the play-by-play. Miller had to sit halfway up in the Huntsman Center to call the game, however.
The younger Miller, now UA’s director of on-campus recruiting and basketball analytics, started under Sean Miller (no relation) as a student manager at the UA. The 2013 grad has worked several different jobs with the Wildcats. David Miller also served as UC Santa Barbara’s director of basketball operations in 2017-18 and 2018-19, working under former UA associate head coach Joe Pasternack.
You again
Among the cardboard cutouts at the Huntsman Center is one based on a photo that just might be taken from a certain NCAA Tournament game in 1998.
As longtime Arizona fans will know, of course, it’s Andre Miller — wearing the same red jersey the Utes wore when they shocked the defending national champion Wildcats in the 1998 Elite Eight.
Warning: this photo might be from a certain 1998 NCAA tournament game. pic.twitter.com/qI4dbAl9l1
— Bruce Pascoe (@BrucePascoe) February 4, 2021
In the photo, Miller is raising both arms with a wide-open grin on his face and he did have plenty to celebrate that day: Miller had a triple-double with 18 points, 14 rebounds and 13 assists while Utah’s triangle-and-two defense strangled the Wildcats in the 76-51 victory.
Muffled Huntsman
Often the next rowdiest arena in the Pac-12 after Arizona, Utah has started games against Arizona in recent seasons by giving fans free battery-lit Styrofoam wands to wave around before the game, creating a spectacle during pregame introductions.
But of course, it was different Thursday. All Utah could do was serve up a video tribute to the team, with shots of the “U of U” logo shooting off firecrackers or something.
During the game, the recorded fan noise was the lowest we’ve seen at any UA game this season, making it feel even more like a scrimmage.
Batcho stays home
The Wildcats had all their healthy scholarship players on hand Thursday, leaving behind Jemarl Baker (broken wrist) and Daniel Batcho (illness).
Sean Miller said on Tuesday he wasn’t sure if Batcho would travel since he has been isolated from the team while battling an illness. Miller said he was “not able to answer any COVID questions,” but that the team’s isolation from Batcho “has nothing to do with it.”
Utah guard Alfonso Plummer (25) drives around Arizona Wildcats guard Dalen Terry (4) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Alex Goodlett)
AZ-blooded
When he chose Utah out of Mesa Red Mountain High School three years ago, Utah’s Timmy Allen was not highly recruited by Arizona or ASU. So he was asked on Utah’s radio show this week whether he aims particularly for either school.
“Well that’s a very, very good question,” Allen said, then proceeding to answer carefully. “I’d say both the same. It’s always fun playing teams from where I’m from but both (mean the same) as any other game. But these are always fun. But no, it’s not like that.”
Be-deviled series
While Arizona was assigned only one game against Utah this season, the Utes were supposed to play ASU twice – and can’t seem to get either game off.
Utah and ASU were originally scheduled to play on Dec. 22 in Tempe and Saturday in Salt Lake City. The Dec. 22 game was postponed to Feb. 2, but then postponed again last week at the Utes’ apparent request.
The Saturday game in Salt Lake City was then also postponed on Tuesday when the Sun Devils paused for COVID-19 issues.
The big number
15
Active Pac-12 players with 1,000 or more career points scored. UA’s Terrell Brown (who entered Thursday with 1,212, scoring 1,064 of them for Seattle U) is sixth on the list while Utah’s Timmy Allen is 11th with 1,127.
