Maybe their defense slips for a half, maybe their shots turn temporarily crooked, or maybe the ball just keeps slipping away for a while. But in the end, things always seem to work out for the Arizona Wildcats at McKale Center.
During their 49-game run to the nation’s longest home-court winning streak, Arizona has won by an average of 22 points and by double digits in all but five games. Even in Pac-12 home games, UA has still won by an average of 19.7 points during its home-court streak.
That’s dominance.
“I wasn’t aware of that,” said UA coach Sean Miller, quickly reflecting on why it happened. “I think it speaks volumes about the teams we’ve had here recently. How together they were, how hard they played. We had individual guys like Rondae (Hollis-Jefferson), T.J. (McConnell), Aaron (Gordon), Nick (Johnson), who have played here in the past and were the throttle of a lot of great things that happened.”
Part of it also, Miller said, is that the Wildcats were always ready, always taking pride in playing a home game and “leaving with no regrets that their effort was outstanding.”
Even without some of the departed standouts of the past, senior forward Ryan Anderson said he has seen those traits this season, too.
“We really pride ourselves at being tough to beat at home,” Anderson said. About “being focused, being ready to go, playing off of our crowd, all those types of things.”
Anderson said the team’s micro-focus on the four-minute segments between media timeouts also helps filter out distractions.
“It’s hard to not know it’s there,” Anderson said of the streak, “but for us it’s ‘Can we win the most wars (four-minute segments) in this 10-war game? Can we come out with a win?’ Then the streak kind of takes care of itself.”
The Wildcats likely will need to draw on all those strategies tonight because there may be no more fitting obstacle in front of a 50th straight home win and Miller’s 300th career win than Oregon.
Not only are the Ducks the Pac-12’s hottest team, with a chance to gain the inside track toward a conference title with a win tonight, but they are also the only Pac-12 team to have given UA a serious scare during its home-court streak.
On Feb. 6, 2014, Arizona pulled out a 67-65 grinder against the Ducks, its rebounding suffering noticeably in its first full game without Brandon Ashley, who had suffered a season-ending foot injury against Cal five days earlier.
Arizona allowed Oregon to pull down 13 offensive rebounds, prompting Miller to demonstrate so wildly on the sidelines that he split his pants.
“I wanted to get in the game and block someone out,” Miller said.
Now Miller has to block something else out that’s much more intangible and, now, maybe more pressure-filled.
While that two-point win over the Ducks was just the Wildcats’ 18th straight home win at the time, Arizona will be lifting a 49-win streak on its shoulders in tonight’s game.
The Cats will leave McKale with 50 only if things work out somehow this time, too.
“I try not to really think about it,” Miller said. “Everybody on our team knows what’s at stake, but we don’t want that streak to create anxiety in what we do, and that can happen even if you don’t want it to.
“There’s nobody in our locker room who walks in and says ‘You know what? If we keep it going, great. But if not, fine.’ That thinking isn’t in our locker room. Everyone wants to be the team, the player who continues it.
“But it’s not about that. It’s about our best performance we’re capable of having against Oregon.”
Five key games during UA’s 49-game home-court winning streak
Dec. 7, 2013: Arizona 63, UNLV 58
What happened: The Wildcats allowed UNLV to shoot 64 percent in the second half and hit only 3 of 16 3-point attempts as the Rebels hung around until UA kept them scoreless in the final 1:28. The win positioned UA to become the No. 1 team in the Top 25 polls two days later.
Key player: T.J. McConnell had 13 points, seven rebounds, six assists and three steals.
He said it: “We know that being ranked No. 1 doesn’t mean we won a championship, or that the season’s now over. But I’m not going to play the negative card at all with that. I think it reflects the quality of our program, the incredible atmosphere that we have at McKale, the great teams in the past and certainly this year’s team. To be ranked No. 1 is maybe the greatest compliment that you can have.” — Miller
Feb. 6, 2014: Arizona 67, Oregon 65
What happened: The Wildcats struggled not just on the boards (they were out-rebounded 40-35) without Ashley but also in finding their offensive rhythm. Hitting just 54.3 percent of their free throws didn’t help, either. But McConnell hit a 3-pointer with 1:33 left to give UA a 62-60 lead, and it held on the rest of the way.
Key player: Rondae Hollis-Jefferson started with Ashley out of the lineup and had 14 points and 10 rebounds.
He said it: “No matter how much we’re going to try to get this the most right we can, you can’t go five months doing things a certain way with a certain group of people and then in five days magically insert players. It’s going to take some time, and I believe that given that time, we’ll improve; we’ll regain things that maybe we had.” — Miller
March 2, 2014: Arizona 79, Stanford 66
What happened: Jordin Mayes received a senior-day start, and early departees Nick Johnson and Aaron Gordon also made a splash in what turned out to be their final game at McKale Center. The Wildcats clinched their second outright Pac-12 title of the Sean Miller era and finished 18-0 at home.
Key player: Gordon had 19 points on 8-for-13 shooting and 15 rebounds.
He said it: Going undefeated at home “was one of our three goals. We want to win the Pac-12 regulation season, win the Pac-12 tournament and the national championship. Coach said we want to go down in Arizona history, so we just try to stay with it.” — Nick Johnson
Dec. 6, 2014: Arizona 66, Gonzaga 63
What happened: Ashley hit three baskets in the final 3:03 of regulation to help tie it up, then the game came down to the free-throw line in overtime.
McConnell missed 2 of 4 free throws in the final 13 seconds of overtime — but, with UA leading 66-63 with three seconds left, Gonzaga’s Byron Wesley air-balled the first of three free throws he took before an ear-splitting McKale Center crowd, and Stanley Johnson rebounded an intentional miss on his third try.
Key player: Ashley had 14 points on 6-for-11 shooting and five rebounds to lead a balanced UA offense.
He said it: “When I saw the air ball, to be honest, I was in shock. Credit to our fans. We have the best fans in the country, and they just proved why, at the free throw at the end.” — McConnell
Dec. 19, 2015: Arizona 82, UNLV 70
What happened: By allowing the Rebels to shoot just 35.3 percent in the second half, and shooting 25 more free throws overall than UNLV, the Wildcats avenged their lone nonconference loss from the 2013-14 season. UA was without center Kaleb Tarczewski, and UNLV played most of the game without standout freshman center Stephen Zimmerman, who aggravated a thigh injury.
Key player: Dusan Ristic scored 20 points and broke a free-throw shooting slump with 7 of 8 from the line while all five UA starters scored in double figures.
He said it: “Very few teams — and I mean all 351 — have experienced more adversity than Arizona. We’ve been hit from August until right now. But it’s a true testament to our team and organization that we’re 11-1 and that we have the optimism that we have. Because we could very easily be 8-4 and looking in a much different light.” — Miller
