Head-to-head

Former UA wings Rawle Alkins and Allonzo Trier had their best games of the combine on Friday — while playing against each other.

Alkins played with more aggressiveness, collecting 17 points on 7-for-11 shooting, along with six rebounds and five blocks in helping his Team 1 to a 98-66 win over Trier’s Team 4. Trier had 10 points on 3-for-7 shooting, while characteristically getting to the line to hit 4 of 5 free throws. Trier also had two rebounds, one assist and two turnovers.

The two didn’t guard each other, but were on the court often at the same time.

“It wasn’t weird or anything like that,” Trier said. “We’ve competed in practice every day against each other so it was cool. It was good.”

Memphis refuge

Thanks to guys such as Kaleb Tarczewski, Dusan Ristic and Lauri Markkanen, Chance Comanche started just two of 60 games over two seasons with the Arizona Wildcats.

It didn’t look like he was going to beat out a new guy named Deandre Ayton last season, either. So Comanche turned pro last spring and wasn’t drafted … but ultimately found a better life with the G League’s Memphis Hustle.

Comanche started 14 of 45 games for the Hustle, averaging 9.2 points and 5.8 rebounds, and Hustle coach Glynn Cyprien said he improved as the season progressed.

“He needed to play,” Cyprien said during an NBA combine game Friday. “I think at Arizona they had great players in front of him so there weren’t enough minutes for him to play and develop, but as our season went on we were able to get him minutes. And the other part about him is he got better in practice. We had a couple of guys like Ivan Rabb he would practice against and he got more confident.”

Cyprien also coached former UA guard Kobi Simmons, who split time with the Hustle and Grizzlies after sliding toward the end of the Arizona bench in 2016-17.

“I think he really developed and he’s another kid where there weren’t a whole lot of minutes for him at Arizona,” Cyprien said. “He decided to come to the G League and I think it’s really helped his game. He’s become more confident and he’s shown he has a burst on the offensive end.”

Simmons averaged 15.1 points and four assists in 26 games with the Hustle, while averaging 6.1 points in 32 games for the Grizzlies.

The big number

2.96

Seconds it took Allonzo Trier in the “shuttle run,” an agility drill in which he tied for the third-best time among all combine participants.

Showing support

When USC coach Andy Enfield showed up this week to show support for departing USC standouts De’Anthony Melton and Chimezie Metu, bittersweet emotions may have been in order.

Melton sat out last season because of ties to the federal investigation into college basketball, while Metu left with a year of eligibility remaining.

But Enfield said Melton has been an extremely hard worker who could have a long career in the NBA, while he didn’t blame Metu for taking off.

“I think it was the right time for him to leave,” Enfield said of Metu. “He’ll be probably a first-round pick this year and he graduated in three years. He’s never missed a day of practice in three years. He’s an extremely hard worker on the court and off the court. He had over a 3.0 GPA and last semester he had two As and two Bs. At USC, that’s not easy.”

Other college coaches showing up at the combine this week included Oregon’s Dana Altman, West Virginia’s Bob Huggins, Kansas’ Bill Self, Georgia Tech’s Josh Pastner, and TCU’s Jamie Dixon.

Eurobluff?

Deandre Ayton’s top competition for the NBA’s No. 1 pick, Luka Doncic, says he isn’t sure he’ll be done playing Euroleague ball, words that suggested to some that he’s trying to leverage himself out of playing for the Sacramento Kings (or maybe even the Suns) by staying in Europe next season.

But Suns GM Ryan McDonough said he didn’t see it that way.

“I know a lot about that situation,” McDonough said. “I think he’s in a little bit of a tricky spot as far as how he answers those questions. You have to put yourself in his shoes or in Real Madrid’s shoes.

“They’re preparing for what’s the biggest basketball event outside of the U.S. They’re playing in the semifinals and for him to answer NBA questions probably wouldn’t be the best optically for him. So I don’t take anything from that. I have no concerns that if we drafted him No. 1 he’d be on our roster next year.”

Another big number

40.5

Inches Alkins reached in the maximum vertical leap test, tying for the sixth-best leap in the combine. Trier was just behind at 40.0, tying for 10th place.

Quotable

“I could have taken the easy route. I could have gone to a smaller school. I could have gone to Washington. I could have (been told) ‘Hey, go shoot a lot of balls, score a lot of points and get out of there.’ I already was a great scorer. I wanted to go to a school that was going to push me to become a better defender, and where I could learn more about the game and be part of a culture of winning. We didn’t win a national championship, but we were able to win a lot of games and have a successful time when I was there.”

— Trier, saying he doesn’t regret his three-year career at Arizona.