Arizona men’s basketball shows championship traits without pair of ‘starters’ | Michael Lev

A little over six minutes into the second half of Arizona’s 75-68 victory over BYU on Wednesday night, Anthony Dell’Orso pulled down a defensive rebound and headed up the court.

Dell’Orso kept going ... and going ... and going. No one bothered to stop him. Eventually, Dell’Orso reached the rim and dunked the ball. He was so thrown off by the sequence of events that he jumped off his right foot instead of his left.

But maybe no one should have been surprised at how that play unfolded. After all, before Wednesday, opponents had little reason to devote any defensive attention toward “Delly.”

The senior guard scored 22 points, his most as a Wildcat — and his most in a long, long time. Dell’Orso took full advantage of the absences of Koa Peat (leg) and Dwayne Aristode (illness) and the sickness that limited Brayden Burries to 30 minutes and forced him to get an IV after the game.

Although ESPN analyst Fran Fraschilla has said many times that Arizona has eight starters, it’s fair to classify Dell’Orso as a role player. Wednesday’s game offered a reminder of how important those role players can be.

It takes a lot to win a national championship. The list includes sharp coaching, high-end talent, cohesiveness, shooting and a commitment to defense. You also need competent role players and good fortune.

The Wildcats showed they have the former while holding off the Cougars. Even amid this stretch of injury and illness, Arizona has benefited from the latter — especially compared to some of its contemporaries.

BYU played its first full game without dynamic wing Richie Saunders, who suffered a season-ending torn ACL on Saturday. Three days later, Texas Tech lost superstar JT Toppin to a torn ACL. North Carolina star freshman Caleb Wilson suffered a broken hand Feb. 10. The Tar Heels managed to beat Pitt in their next game without Wilson and our old friend, Henri Veesaar, who’s also hurt. On Tuesday, they lost by 24 to NC State.

“It sucks. There's no getting around it,” BYU coach Kevin Young said. “Richie Saunders epitomizes everything that's good about college basketball. Hate that he's not out there with us. ...

“I think this is my either 21st or 22nd year in coaching. I never had four guys get hurt for the season. So we're going through it. That’s sports. That's life. You get adversity.”

Maybe the Cougars weren’t quite in that elite group of title contenders before Saunders’ injury; they’re surely out of it now. Texas Tech definitely could have won it all with a healthy Toppin; now the Red Raiders have to scramble and reinvent themselves. That was the word Young used to describe BYU’s plight. He added that they’re having to do it “on the fly.” It’s almost March.

Delly does it

Arizona won’t have Peat for Saturday’s game at Houston, and he probably won’t play at Baylor next Tuesday. But this isn’t a season-ending situation. Neither is Aristode. Barring something unforeseen, they’ll both back.

In the meantime, their absences have created opportunities.

Dell’Orso flourished Wednesday night, driving to the bucket and knocking down four of Arizona’s nine 3-pointers. On a night where they debuted their “Galaxy Slam” uniforms, Dell’Orso was the Wildcats’ shooting star.

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Although he downplayed his breakout performance afterward, it had to have provided a jolt of confidence for a player who’d mostly been struggling of late. After scoring 17 points at TCU on Jan. 10, Dell’Orso reached double figures in only two of the next nine games. He had five or fewer points in each of the other seven contests — including three in which he was blanked.

Even with a full complement of players, there will come a time when Arizona needs Dell’Orso to hit some shots from beyond the arc. Future opponents are bound to try to replicate Young’s defensive game plan — even if it didn’t exactly work.

The Cougars double-teamed Motiejus Krivas and Tobe Awaka almost every time they touched the ball in the post. They also, at times, utilized a saggy 2-3 zone. They dared the Wildcats to beat them from the outside.

“We said that they were gonna have to make 3’s to beat us, and they did,” Young said. “And we wanted to make other guys beat us.”

I didn’t think Young would name names, but then he did.

“You have to give Dell’Orso credit,” Young said. “He hasn't had a great year statistically. But he shot the heck out of the ball tonight.”

Role call

Before Wednesday, Sidi Gueye and Evan Nelson hadn’t accumulated enough statistics to analyze. Gueye had played a total of 15 minutes in Big 12 games; Nelson had played 13. And the vast majority of those came after games already had been decided.

Yet there they were, checking in within the first 10 minutes Wednesday. Gueye played a career-high 10 minutes, accumulating four points and four rebounds. Nelson played only four minutes, but he had a plus-6 plus/minus rating while on the court.

Gueye and Nelson provided valuable rest for the rotation regulars while gaining invaluable experience against top-flight competition. It doesn’t mean they’ll be part of the rotation once Peat and Aristode return. But every appearance Gueye and Nelson make over the next week or so will better equip them for future fill-in duty should it be required.

You could say that Gueye and Nelson are insurance policies for the team that calls McKale Center at Alkeme Arena its home.

Speaking of which, another role player of sorts helped the Wildcats win Wednesday. The crowd was lit — in more ways than one. Not only did the fans bring a ton of energy, they waved rally towels that had lights in them.

Dell’Orso said it was perhaps “the loudest I’ve ever heard McKale.” Tommy Lloyd implied that his team wouldn’t have won without that support.

In “moments like this,” Lloyd said, alluding to Arizona’s absences and adversity, “you need to galvanize behind the team; you need to pull them through. ... Right now, we need them to dig a little deeper to help us dig a little deeper. And today they did.”

Lloyd literally dug deeper into his bench. The reconstituted rotation meshed. It’s how championship-caliber clubs, well, roll.

Photos: Arizona muscles its way to 75-68 win over BYU in rematch, Big 12 basketball