TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — After they stumbled, then recovered, then ultimately kicked away a 76-73 loss to Alabama on Sunday, the Arizona Wildcats stayed huddled behind a closed Coleman Center locker room door for about 30 minutes.
It wouldn’t have been a surprise if the door busted open from vibration, considering the volume that burst through the walls.
Based on what he later calmly explained to the Star and a UA video crew, Arizona coach Sean Miller appeared to be letting the Wildcats know bluntly that it wasn’t acceptable to get behind by 19 points, as they did in the first half.
Wasn’t acceptable to get beaten back routinely in transition, giving up easy buckets and trips to the free-throw line. Wasn’t acceptable to give up key second shots down the stretch, nor to improperly handle a screen that allowed Alabama’s Kira Lewis to hit a wide-open 3-pointer with 13 second left.
Basically, Miller was steamed that his guys simply didn’t play hard enough for the entire game.
“We’re not a team this season that has the room for error to make up for those miscues,” Miller said. “I credit Alabama — they’re a talented group and they did a good job but … there were a number of things where we didn’t do the best that we’re capable of.”
Arizona guard Brandon Randolph, left, guards Herb Jones on Sunday. Randolph scored 17 points but hit only 7 of 20 shots.
Before the Wildcats started humbly leaving the locker room, taking a 7-3 record back to McKale Center for a game with Baylor on Sunday, center Chase Jeter was asked to pull over in front of the Arizona/Pac-12 backdrop to field a few questions.
It was clear Jeter was in agreement with Miller’s message. Jeter spoke for three minutes but really needed only 15 seconds or so to explain the Wildcats’ loss.
“A few mental lapses, we didn’t get back on defense, didn’t get some crucial rebounds that we should have gotten,” Jeter said. “They played harder than us.”
There was also some crummy shooting. Arizona hit just 31.6 percent overall and made only 4 of 14 3-pointers in the first half, going scoreless for over five minutes while falling behind 33-14 just 13 minutes into the game.
In the second half, despite going on an 11-0 run over the final minutes of the first half and first 90 seconds after halftime, the Wildcats also had trouble simply making layups and other close-in shots.
They cut Alabama’s lead all the way to 47-45 after Brandon Randolph and Brandon Williams both made 3-pointers just before the first media timeout of the second half, but were down 53-45 some three minutes later after missing seven straight from the field.
Arizona allowed Alabama to convert five offensive rebounds into 10 points in the final 5:13 of Sunday’s game. UA coach Sean Miller says “that’s what breaks your back.”
There’s a theory that human nature makes it difficult to keep the foot on the accelerator after coming back from a huge deficit, as the Wildcats did Sunday, but Miller wasn’t buying it.
“Being down 19 is the biggest problem,” he said. “We didn’t need to be down 19. You give teams like Alabama transition layups, 3s, they can really get going because they have a great group of guys in transition, and that’s where they thrive.
“In the first half, to me, it was more of that and, in our halfcourt defense, just the details of our defense weren’t sharp.”
At that point, eight minutes after halftime, Arizona made just 3 of 10 shots from inside the 3-point arc, negating their surge from outside it. Even Jeter was 4 of 11 at one point early, and he wasn’t the only one struggling to score inside.
But the shots weren’t really what bothered Miller, since most of them were reasonably good ones to take.
They just didn’t go in.
“I think a couple of the shots we missed were really good high-percentage shots, and that’s going to happen over the long course of the season,” Miller said. “The focus is more on the things that we need to do a better job of as a team. In the first half, maybe we took a few ill-advised quick shots, which you have to be careful on the road of doing.”
Jeter looked mostly elsewhere for blame, too.
“We’ll make and miss shots throughout the course of the game but more importantly here, we didn’t do the job that we needed to defensively,” Jeter said. “Can’t blame it on missing any shots or anything. We kind of broke down defensively and Alabama took advantage.”
Alabama forward Donta Hall (0) goes to the hoop against Arizona center Chase Jeter (4) and Arizona guard Emmanuel Akot (24) in Coleman Coliseum Sunday, Dec. 9, 2018. The Crimson Tide defeated the Wildcats 76-73.
And because the Wildcats broke down defensively, Alabama was able to get high-percentage shots it made, allowing it to hold Arizona off even after the Wildcats took a brief one-possession lead midway through the second half.
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The Crimson Tide shot 46.4 percent overall and hit 8 of 19 3-pointers, none more critical than Lewis’ 3 from the right wing with 13 seconds left.
The Wildcats left Lewis wide open after one of them switched off a screen and another didn’t. Miller said the problem might have resulted from miscommunication, possibly even from him.
“Two people went with a roller and that can’t happen,” Miller said. “If he makes that shot, we want him to make a tough shot, a contested shot, not a wide-open shot where we broke down.”
Instead, Lewis had the ball in a position where he wasn’t about to miss. Just 17 years old but already the Tide’s leading scorer, Lewis drilled the shot to give Alabama a 73-68 lead that forced the Wildcats to begin fouling.
“I always have confidence in Kira shooting the ball, especially when he gets a good look like that,” Alabama forward Alex Reese said.
Added teammate Tevin Mack: “He’s a killer, for sure.”
Arizona tried to stay alive when Brandon Randolph quickly hit a 3-pointer with 7.5 seconds left, cutting Alabama’s lead to 73-71 with seven seconds left. But John Petty hit 1 of 2 free throws with five seconds left to put the Tide up by three and Justin Coleman was then fouled in the backcourt, before he could take or assist a game-tying 3-pointer.
Coleman hit both free throws but was then forced to foul Lewis, who made both he took with three seconds left. A final desperation heave from Coleman fell far short.
Returning to where he spent his first two college seasons with Alabama, Coleman finished with eight points, five rebounds and six assists, but had five turnovers. Jeter had 19 points and nine rebounds to lead the Wildcats, while Lewis finished with 20 to lead all scorers.
