Arizona’s projected lottery pick is on a roll entering his final game at McKale Center, and Nico Mannion doesn’t find it difficult to explain why.
“I think it’s just extra work in the gym,” Mannion said Thursday, after the UA beat Washington State 83-62. “I don’t think there’s any shortcuts in basketball. So, the extra work I’m getting in — and that we’re all getting in the gym — is starting to pay off.”
OK.
And that production that Mannion had in the second halves of the Wildcats’ past two games, scoring eight points in the first five minutes after halftime at UCLA and engineering a 26-0 run Thursday that put the Wildcats’ win away?
Was that from any particular sense of urgency? A streak of determination?
“Um, no, I wouldn’t say so,” Mannion said. “I really don’t know how to answer that.”
Maybe it was just taking advantage of some WSU turnovers and other fast-break opportunities that led to the Wildcats’ blowout win on Thursday. Arizona scored a total of 23 points on 17 WSU turnovers, allowing the Wildcats to get out and play the open-court offense they love.
Or maybe it was just practice. After all, UA coach Sean Miller preaches the “process” to all his players, and Mannion has apparently acted on it.
“He’s stayed with it,” Miller said. “He practices hard. He’s learned the way to win in college basketball. He’s seen what it feels like to lose. He’s watched a lot of film.”
But Miller also suggested maybe there is a little more at play here. Mannion is not only an NBA prospect, but he’s also been expected to carry the Wildcats with leadership and clutch play as a true freshman, making him the target of frustrations at times during an uneven season in which Arizona is just 11-10 since it won the Wooden Legacy over Thanksgiving week.
“In fairness to him, it’s a world of expectations that that are almost impossible to meet,” Miller said. “If you look at the role that he has as a freshman, the amount of minutes that he’s played, and the games that he’s played really well in, he’s had a dynamic first year.
“We’re all holding him to this standard of excellence and in today’s world of college basketball, it just takes time. It takes time to get comfortable.”
Arizona guard Nico Mannion (1) shovels an assist around Washington State center Volodymyr Markovetskyy (15) in the second half of their Pac12 game at McKale Center, March 5, 2020, Tucson, Ariz.
For an example, Miller said it takes a while to get used to the sort of zone defense that Washington plays, with Arizona having turned the ball over four times in the first four minutes of their 75-72 win over the Huskies on Jan. 30 in Seattle.
Mannion finished that game with five assists to two turnovers, and the Wildcats hung on thanks to Jemarl Baker’s four 3s and zero turnovers in 25 minutes.
“I remember how the game felt in the first half — we just had a lot of young players playing against that type of zone for the first time,” said Miller, whose Wildcats will host Washington on Saturday in their regular-season finale. “It’s not to your advantage.”
So it’s practice ... and experience.
After 30 games now, Mannion is averaging better than a 2-1 assist-turnover ratio and 14.1 points a game. He has 162 assists on the season to rank second nationally among freshmen and, with another 16 assists, he would tie Mike Bibby for second place on the Arizona all-time freshman assist chart.
In his past three games, Mannion has 15 assists to just four turnovers while scoring an average of 17.7 points. Against WSU, Mannion was 8 for 20 from the field and hit 4 of 7 3s, with seven assists to just one turnover.
So while Mannion has yet to match the varied 11-for-14 shooting with 24 points he had against Penn on Nov. 29 — or his tricky buzzer-beating hook against Pepperdine a day earlier — he appears to be back on an upward trajectory.
“Watching Nico feel comfortable now, it makes sense because he’s been through a lot of different experiences and he’s very good,” Miller said. “I think for him, just watching that ball go in the basket takes some pressure off him because as we all know, he’s certainly a capable shooter.”
Although it might not be as visible, Miller said Mannion has also made progress the other side of the floor.
For a number of reasons.
“I don’t think someone like Nico’s improvement, you can just attribute to working extra in the gym or after practice,” Miller said. “It’s everything. It’s failing, it’s playing well away from home it’s playing against different types of players and zones.
“If I just judge Nico on his defense, it might be the biggest gap that anyone on our team has filled in terms of where he would have been when we scrimmaged Saint Mary’s (in October), and where he is today. He just has the know-how. He has a lot of reps under him, and he’s just much more dependable and an overall better defensive player.
“But, again, when you expect so much from him, that’s oftentimes overlooked.”
