Greg Hansen: Wildcats need to find shooting touch soon with rematch against Bruins looming

Bobby Hurley said he was “praying’’ in the final four minutes of the first half Saturday at McKale Center. That would be a first, wouldn’t it? An opposing coach asking for help from the basketball gods, or any god, with the game in progress.

“I was just praying, like, every second would go off the clock,’’ Hurley said. “We had an eight-point lead.’’

It was 28-20, Sun Devils. It was like the 1967 Chicago Bears and Detroit Lions playing a 7-3 game in the snow. It was the only chance ASU had to win. Kill the clock. Hope the refs would be kind and let you mug the Wildcats, and that Kerr Kriisa and Bennedict Mathurin would continue to shoot as if sometimes blindfolded.

After the game, Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd described his first encounter with the Sun Devils with terms like “rock fight’’ and “dog days’’ “ice cold’’ “screeching halt’’ and “choppy.’’ He said he suspected Saturday’s game “wouldn’t be pretty,’’ which became clear in a Friday press conference when he described the Sun Devils as “gritty.’’

If you trot out “gritty’’ to describe an opponent, it’s code for “bet the under on total points.’’

Arizona won 67-56 because both teams shot 32%. That hasn’t happened in an Arizona game since 1981-82. I almost expected James Naismith to appear out of the rafters and replace the rims with peach baskets.

“Guys,’’ he might’ve said, “the object is to put the ball through this basket.’’

If you didn’t see this coming, you haven’t been paying attention to the Sun Devils. They are shooting 39% from the field, which is a figure from the 1960s. No Arizona team has shot such a frighteningly low percentage since 1962-63.

About six weeks ago, ASU lost 51-29 to Washington State. Those teams combined to shoot 25% that night in Tempe. It didn’t take long for Lloyd and his staff to scout the Sun Devils, who scored 50 in a loss at Cal — yes, Cal.

Not having much firepower is one thing, not having any ammunition is another. The Sun Devils don’t have any ammunition. They are 12th in the conference in scoring (63 points) and 12th shooting (39%).

Hurley deserves credit for getting the most from a size- and talent-challenged team, and he knows it.

“Overall, I liked our resilience and toughness,’’ he said. “If we had rebounded a fraction better and converted our free throws, I think we would’ve been in it at the end.’’

Bobby Hurley's ASU team had an eight-point lead late in the first half, but were outscored by 19 the rest of the way by UA.
Kelly Presnell, Arizona Daily Star

That’s too many ifs, even against an Arizona team that has strangely lost its shooting touch.

There was no way Arizona was going to lose Saturday, even if Mathurin and Kerr shot worse than they did at UCLA last week. It was close. Very, very close. At UCLA those two went 2 for 16 from 3-point range. As hard as it is to believe, they also shot 2 for 16 from 3-point distance against ASU.

It went beyond 3-pointers. The Wildcats missed 11 of 20 layups. They were fortunate ASU only made two layups in 40 minutes. Two layups in a game? That might be a record of some kind, too.

The season’s first sellout crowd, 14,644, squeezed into McKale Center expecting some type of celebration instead of leaving the arena worried about Thursday’s rematch with UCLA. It had the feel of a big game, but it turned out to be two hours of survival.

Arizona has enough resources to beat half of the Pac-12 teams without a locked in Mathurin and Kerr, but unless the UA can locate and employ a good shooting doctor, the Wildcats are not likely to win the conference or earn a No. 1 or No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament with Christian Koloko and Oumar Ballo leading the way, combining for 26 points, 16 rebound and five blocks every night.

Especially not when the UA’s No. 2 scoring option, Azuolas Tubelis, remains limited by the effects of a sprained ankle. If you fall behind UCLA 28-20, it’s not just troublesome, it’s BIG TROUBLE.

Lloyd said he will give his club a day or two to recover from the recent three-game, eight-day road trip. When they return to practice, it’s likely he will institute extra shooting practice the way a baseball coach instructs a slumping batter to take extra BP.

“”We kind of lost our flow a little bit offensively,’’ said Lloyd. We have some guys questioning themselves, which is natural. We’ve got to have a better understanding of what a good shot is.’’

If we’ve learned one thing from Lloyd in his 10 months in Tucson, is that he isn’t doesn’t have a panic-mode gene. He’s a teacher, not a quick-fix guy. He’s been in the business for 22 years. He’s seen this before,

“Teams scout you more as you get deeper in the season,’’ he said, which is exactly what UCLA and ASU did, taking away Arizona’s strengths — especially Mathurin — while leaving more opportunity for Koloko, Ballo and Dalen Terry. “They make adjustments, and sometimes our adjustment isn’t making changes, but doubling down on what we already do.’’

After a dozen game videos of Arizona became available, providing a scouting template on a team that once led the NCAA in scoring doesn’t require science. The Bobby Hurley’s and Mick Cronin’s surely looked at their assistant coaches and said something like “let’s make Koloko beat us, not Mathurin.’’

“I’m not naive,’’ said Lloyd. “As you get later in the season, these aren’t going to be track meets. We’re OK having to grind it out in the half-court, and we can win like that.’’

Just like Saturday’s game, Arizona’s season has quickly become one of survival, not first-team-to-100-wins.