LOS ANGELES — The return of Allonzo Trier has given coach Sean Miller and the Arizona Wildcats a whole basket of new toys.
The reinstated sophomore guard, who served a 19-game NCAA suspension for a positive PED test before helping No. 14 UA upset No. 3 UCLA 96-85 on Saturday, isn’t just the Wildcats’ top returning scorer from last season.
• He’s an experienced go-to scorer and foul magnet who might come in handy in the final seconds of a one-possession finish, the kind Arizona hasn’t had since its season opening win against Michigan State.
• He’s a big wing who can defend a taller guard, taking some defensive pressure off the do-everything Kadeem Allen and the Wildcats’ other perimeter players.
• His improved passing ability means he can be even more efficient with his drives, dishing back out to the perimeter as he did for a first-half 3-pointer by Lauri Markkanen at UCLA. Trier finished with four assists to one turnover on Saturday.
“He opens up the floor a lot more,” freshman guard Kobi Simmons said. Opposing players “worry about him. He became a great passer as he came back another year, and it’s great for our team.”
• His presence means Miller has the flexibility to throw out four perimeter players if an opponent goes small, and regularly use three, when he often had to deploy 7-footer Lauri Markkanen at small forward earlier this season because of the UA’s limited perimeter depth.
“When we went small today, we had another body,” Miller said after the UCLA game. “Having that extra body was big for us.
• Having Trier around also means the Wildcats should never get tired. Miller has complained often that the fatigue of his understaffed roster has been at least partially responsible for their second-half defensive meltdowns, especially against Texas A&M, when the Wildcats let a 22-point second-half lead slip all the way to just two before hanging on for a 67-63 win.
Arizona also allowed its previous three opponents before UCLA to shoot 50 percent or better in the second half. But when the Bruins trimmed UA’s lead from 14 to four in the second half Saturday, a Trier-bolstered defense helped build the Wildcats’ lead back up to double digits, resulting in the kind of upset that opened eyes around the country.
“We’ve had a tendency this year to not be as good in the second half as we’ve been,” Miller said after Saturday’s game. “But today’s a reminder that to be good late in the game and the second half, you need depth, and part of what we’ve run into is we’ve given great effort and we run out of gas.
“Today we didn’t do that. Kadeem is great example. He played only 30 minutes and at the end of the game he was a lot fresher.”
• Trier also gives Miller a legitimate hook with which to yank underperforming players. Because of the Wildcats’ three straight lapses into lethargy before the UCLA game, Miller said after the UA hung on at USC on Thursday that he would start benching players who don’t give a consistently strong effort.
But that kind of saber-rattling initially appeared limited. Until Friday, when the UA said the NCAA notified them that Trier had tested negative, Miller had just three extra players to sub in.
Now Miller has four, and a full complement of players at all positions, ensuring nobody is safe from a sudden benching.
“During the long course of a season, you have injuries, you have foul trouble, you have players who maybe aren’t playing well,” Miller said. “The biggest thing from a coaching perspective is if you don’t play with effort, you’re not going to play. That right there is worth a lot.”
Now “that won’t be compromised because the answer is easy. You’ll just get subbed out. So you have a chance to have even greater effort level.”
Yet, with all these benefits Trier brings the Wildcats, there is one potential downside: His addition could disrupt the chemistry of a team that went 17-2 without him, even if he plays unselfishly himself.
Will anyone (or his parents/handlers) sulk after his minutes get cut to make room for Trier? Rawle Alkins played just 17 on Saturday, a full 14 minutes below his playing average in Pac-12 games entering the UCLA game. Parker Jackson-Cartwright lost five minutes off his league average, while Keanu Pinder lost six, playing only four total minutes against the Bruins.
While Alkins is perhaps the most likely to be squeezed by Trier’s return because they have similar skillsets, Pinder also could take a big hit because the UA has even more flexibility to go big or small with other players in the frontcourt.
But Miller appeared unconcerned, saying, “We have unselfish group of guys for sure,” even as he noted that everyone’s role will be changing to some extent.
“We’re gonna have to sacrifice,” Miller said. “We’ve had great team chemistry and it’s our job to continue to have that great team chemistry. Really, everyone will play a little bit less, but hopefully we can accomplish more as a group.”
