Mamta Popat / Arizona Daily Star Arizona’s Stanley Johnson, coming off the bench for the first time this season, scored all 13 of his points in the first half as the Wildcats’ took a 20-point lead over the Arizona State into the locker room at the break.
For Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, only 90 seconds or so separated his start Sunday from his usual entrance off the bench in Arizona Wildcats games.
Oh, and something else.
“It’s (about) the same besides, you know, getting your name called” during introductions, Hollis-Jefferson said. “Who doesn’t like that?”
A subtle change for Hollis-Jefferson, maybe, but overall the changes UA showed in its 73-49 destruction of ASU at McKale Center on Sunday were dramatic.
The No. 8 Wildcats charged into the new year with a new lineup, a newly renovated defense and even some newfound success from the free-throw line.
Saying he was just trying to change things up after a 71-67 loss to UNLV before a 12-day layoff, UA coach Sean Miller also gave a first career start to guard Elliott Pitts over Gabe York and may have been the first person on the planet to take Stanley Johnson out of a starting lineup when he went instead with Hollis-Jefferson at small forward.
“I don’t ask his permission,” Miller said, smiling. “I mean, it’s not a big deal. Stanley’s part of the team and he works hard. I have no ill feeling toward anything he did. He played an excellent game and at halftime, he might have been our best player.”
Johnson scored all of his 13 points in the first half when UA built a 45-25 lead before halftime, jumping right back in the starting lineup in the second half. His 13 points tied Brandon Ashley and Hollis-Jefferson for team-high scoring honors, while Johnson added seven rebounds and a steal — though he did commit three turnovers and pick up four fouls that limited him to just 25 minutes.
In other words, it was another day of fast-paced learning for the expected one-and-done freshman, who is a projected lottery pick in the June NBA Draft.
“He didn’t play maybe as well as he’s capable of in the second half but he’ll learn from it and we need him to continue to grow,” Miller said. “All of these guys when they come here — whether they’re here for a year or four years — it’s all of our jobs as coaches to make them better, to give them things that maybe they didn’t have when they showed up here.”
While Johnson figures to float back into the starting lineup, it may not be as clear whether York will regain his spot. Even though Miller had started the same lineup for the Wildcats’ first 13 games, he said in the preseason that he might change lineups — and he appears to be thinking about that again at this point of the season.
“We want to just start off with a different group, a group that has done things the right way,” Miller said. “That’s not a slight to Gabe York or Stanley Johnson. And who we start for the next game, I’m not sure. This year we might have to move the lineup around some. That might bring out the best in our team.”
Whether it was the lineup or not, the Wildcats did bring out their best defense of the season. The 32.6 percent shooting the Sun Devils put up was the lowest opponent field-goal percentage the Wildcats have given up all season, and the Sun Devils’ 22 turnovers tied for the second-most ever at ASU under coach Herb Sendek.
And while UA only outscored ASU by four points in the second half, the Wildcats kept the heat on defensively, allowing the Sun Devils to shoot only 27.3 percent after halftime while building leads of up to 25 points.
“I give Arizona a lot of credit,” ASU forward Savon Goodman said. “They did a great job defensively against us and they stuck to their plan.
“We didn’t execute our offense well and we were very careless with the ball.”
Arizona scored 21 points off those 22 ASU turnovers — though ASU managed to score 20 off the Wildcats’ 15 turnovers — and the Sun Devils also collected just six offensive rebounds and were out-rebounded overall 33-23.
That was a pretty big difference for a UA team that let UNLV shoot 44 percent and swipe 14 offensive rebounds 12 days earlier.
“There were times we broke down mentally, but for the most part we played a great defensive game,” Hollis-Jefferson said. “For a team to score under 50 (points) in college, and that’s a good team offensively, that’s a big accomplishment. So I would say kudos to our defense.”
Miller had vowed to “rekindle our defense” in practice last week after UNLV’s Christian Wood and Rashad Vaughn carved it up on Dec. 23 and, sure enough, Hollis-Jefferson said Miller put a big emphasis on it.
“For a team to score 70 on us … he doesn’t like that,” Hollis-Jefferson said. “He takes pride on defense. That’s the main thing he talks about. So it was pretty tough for us in practice. Close out and all that extra stuff — we had to do it, and some.”
They also had to shoot more free throws. UA entered the game shooting just 64.9 percent from the line, and Miller had suggested some of the Wildcats might want to spend their entire Christmas break shooting free throws.
Certainly, the Wildcats did upon returning to practice on Dec. 28, and, lo and behold, they made 16 of 19 from the line against ASU, their second-best percentage (84.2) of the season.
“We’re going to get better from the line,” Miller said. “I don’t expect it to become all of a sudden to become ‘wow, you guys don’t miss.’ But tonight’s performance from the line is more about who we are than who we’ve been.
“And I hope moving forward that’s one of many things we keep improving.”
