BOULDER, Colo. β Sean Miller repeated the same theme over and over, during answers to 12 different questions at his postgame media session Saturday.
The Wildcats didnβt play hard. They didnβt play together. And he said he couldnβt get through to them.
Maybe that was the bottom line in UAβs 80-77 loss at Colorado, but Miller might have also been pointing obliquely to some specifics.
Among them:
β’ Without being asked a word about McKinley Wright, Miller praised the Colorado freshman point guard three different times for his confidence, physical strength and playmaking. Wright had 16 points and 10 assists, but also seven turnovers.
βMcKinley Wright, for such a young kid, itβs amazing, you can just see in his face how he plays,β Miller said, pivoting from an answer to a question about Coloradoβs court storm.
βHeβs just that special player who can make his teammates better. Usually you say that about an older guy, but for such a young player thatβs a great characteristic. You can really feel that when you play Colorado.β
While UA point guard Parker Jackson-Cartwright had eight assists to only one turnover and four steals, the Wildcats shot just 38.4 percent overall as a team.
β’ Miller also praised Colorado seniors George King and Dom Collier, again without being asked about them or the Buffs in general. King had 11 rebounds from the wing but shot 2 for 8 from the field. Collier, freed up from most point guard duties this season because of Wrightβs presence, hit 5 of 7 shots for 14 points, with two assists and no turnovers.
βGeorge King, Iβve watched him develop,β Miller said. βHeβs one of those guys who represents college basketball in such a good way, a senior, paid his dues, plays hard and always has. Those guys (also including Wright) and Collier had a good game today.β
Of UAβs veterans, Jackson-Cartwright was 0 for 6 from the field, Allonzo Trier was 3 for 9 and uncharacteristically did not get to the free-throw line at all, while Dusan Ristic was 6 for 16 from the floor.
β’ Another Colorado player Miller singled out was freshman center Dallas Walton, who averaged just 4.2 points and 14.5 minutes entering Saturday.
Walton had 15 points on 7-for-7 shooting, the most field goals without a miss since Xavier Johnson went 7 for 7 against Oregon in 2012-13.
βTheir freshman big guy β they donβt depend on him a lot for scoring β but he was just really ready for the game,β Miller said.
βSeven for seven from the floor β thatβs a big reason why they won. He played hard, played with a lot of energy. I credit Colorado, they had a good crowd. They played hard and had a lot of energy.β
Arizonaβs freshman big guy, Deandre Ayton, came on late to finish with 26 points, but his five rebounds were less than half his average (12.1) coming into the game.
Of UAβs other freshmen, wing Brandon Randolph was scoreless in 11 minutes, while guard Alex Barcello shot 0 for 2 with no assists in five minutes.
Emmanuel Akot had three points and a steal in six minutes and Ira Lee had two points and two rebounds in nine minutes.
β’ Normally having a similar philosophy to Arizonaβs pack-line defense, Colorado instead threw out mostly a zone defense. Miller said the Wildcatsβ inefficiency against it was probably due most to a lack of togetherness.
βWe probably took some ill-advised shots, but if youβre playing with great energy and togetherness, a really high level of effort on defense, itβs tough for that group of five to go on the offensive end and just take any shot,β Miller said. βThose two things donβt go together.
βIf you have that team that really struggles to give effort and energy on defense, itβs very easy and almost makes perfect sense that that same group would take ill-advised shots and really thatβs what Coloradoβs zone did.
βIt baited us into not playing together, not moving it. In the second half, if you really evaluate us against the zone β¦ got a lot of good looks, some of which we missed. But that really wasnβt the problem today.β
Arizonaβs 38.4 percent shooting Saturday included 7 for 25 3-point shooting (28.0 percent). Only once since its 0-3 showing in the Bahamas (25.0 percent against North Dakota State) have the Wildcats shot lower than 32 percent from 3-point range.
β’ Akot played six minutes , but Miller didnβt rave about him as he did in the preseason, when he said Akot was a potential defensive stopper in the mold of Rondae Hollis-Jefferson.
βHe did a good job. He did a good job,β Miller said, then fielded another question.
Arizona allowed Colorado to shoot 64.3 percent in the first half and 54.7 percent for the game.
It was the second-highest-shooting percentage the Wildcats had allowed all season, trailing only the 57.4 percent Purdue shot in the Boilermakersβ 89-64 destruction of the Wildcats in the Bahamas on Nov. 24.
β’ Miller said the Wildcats canβt just out-talent anybody. βThis game was tough and the next game is gonna be tough,β Miller said. βOregon Stateβs coming off a big win (against Oregon). We just donβt overwhelm you, one through 10.
βBelieve it or not, we have to play hard, play with confidence, play with togetherness like a lot of great teams, or a lot of teams, do in this country. And thatβs really missing with our team.β
For Saturday’s game, Colorado started a lineup that (according to Scout.com) had two players rated as four-star prospects out of high school, plus Wright (three), King (two) and Walton (not rated). It has no five-stars, but two four-star reserves (Collier and D’Shawn Schwartz).
Arizona started three five-star players (Ayton, Trier and Rawle Alkins) plus a four-star (Jackson-Cartwright) and a three-star (Ristic). Akot is the fourth five-star prospect on the Wildcatsβ active roster while Randolph, Lee and Barcello were four-star recruits.
