Scouting report: No. 18 Arizona Wildcats vs. Stanford Cardinal
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UA seeks Bay Area road sweep in Sunday's game.
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Matchup:Β No. 18 Arizona (12-2) at Stanford
Location:Β McKale Center
Time:Β 6 p.m.
TV:Β Pac-12 Networks
Radio:Β 1290-AM, 107.5-FM
Β
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G Kadeem Allen (6-3 senior)
G Kobi Simmons (6-5 freshman)
G Rawle Alkins (6-5 freshman)
F Lauri Markkanen (7-0 freshman)
C Dusan Ristic (7-0 junior)
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G Robert Cartwright (6-2 sophomore)
G Marcus Sheffield (6-5 sophomore)
F Dorian Pickens (6-5 junior)
F Reid Travis (6-8 junior)
C Grant Verhoeven (6-9 senior)
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The series: Stanford is the only Pac-12 team that has never beaten Arizona under Sean Miller (in 12 games since he was hired in 2009), and the Wildcats have a 13-game winning streak overall that is tied with the 13 straight wins Oregon has over USC for the conferenceβs longest win streak in a series. The Wildcats havenβt had a close call since 2013-14, when Aaron Gordon struggled with 2-for-10 shooting in his trip home to the south Bay but Arizona held Stanford scoreless for nearly nine minutes in the second half to pull out a 60-57 win at Maples Pavilion.
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Trying to reboot a veteran team, first-year coach Jerod Haase suffered a rough introduction to Pac-12 play on Friday, losing at home to ASU despite a career-high 35 points from emerging standout Marcus Sheffield. The Cardinal allowed ASU to hit 13 of 24 3-pointers and 51 percent of its shots overall. Stanford is normally pretty efficient defensively, allowing 97.1 points per 100 possessions, and it has upgauged the tempo it runs under Haase, pushing the ball constantly to initiate its offense.
The key offensive players are power forward Reid Travis, shooter Dorian Pickens and Sheffield, who can shoot or drive the ball. Travis is back to normal after a stress reaction in his leg derailed him last season. Christian Sanders returned to the point after an indefinite suspension ended his season early under previous coach Johnny Dawkins but Robert Cartwright has been the starter.
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Sheffield had a career-night against ASU, which only means UAβs perimeter defenders will have more incentive to slow him. The bigger issue for the Wildcats might be stopping the rugged and crafty big man from scoring or getting to the line.
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The workload doesnβt get any easier for Allen with Parker Jackson-Cartwright around; it just shifts. Allen should be freer to play off the ball more often and spend more energy on defending Sheffield and Pickens.
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βThe challenge honestly is they have a lot of movement. They move the defense. Travis is always a threat. You have to take stuff away from him and if you do theyβve got guys like (Dorian) Pickens and Marcus Sheffield. We have to keep Travis off the free-throw line. The other big guys give Travis an opportunity to go one-on-one. They can really shoot the ball, pick-and-pop.β
UA assistant coach Book Richardson, who scouted the Cardinal
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After he won his 200th game as Arizonaβs coach on Friday at Cal, Sean Miller was asked if that was just a number.
It wasnβt.
βAnytime as a coach, when you hit one of those itβ means something, Miller said. βI know a lot of guys answer the question like it doesnβt, but being a college basketball coach isnβt easy, especially in this his day and age when one season to the next so many things can change.β
In Millerβs case, since his hiring in 2009, he spent several seasons rebuilding the Wildcats and the most recent ones reloading while his best players turned pro early.
βI thought about Cal a year ago, a year later they have a very good team β but they had to lose a lottery pick (Jaylen Brown) and those guys donβt grow on trees,β Miller said, in continuing his answer. βSo Arizona is a fantastic place to coach and Iβm lucky to be their coach.β
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First-year Stanford coach Jerod Haase has an entire roster of players he didnβt recruit, including seven players who spent two or more seasons under former coach Johnny Dawkins, but that isnβt the problem heβs worried about now.
The Cardinal just needs to play better.
βThe cool part from day one is that the the guys were very, very coachable,β Haase said last week. βThere wasnβt any pushback with the new staff. They were invested right away. But I think overall weβre still thinking a little bit too much. We still have capable shooters and ballhandlers but weβre thinking about the game. β¦ We still have a lot of work together to do.β
After the Cardinal lost 98-93 to ASU on Friday, Haase said he wanted them to think β and play hard.
βWe have to be cerebral and understand the scouting reports and understand the plays that theyβre running, but we have to then be able to play with passion and have a greater sense of urgency,β Haase said after the game, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. βWith Arizona, obviously, if we donβt have that sense of urgency on every single play and every situation, just trying to do the right thing and say weβre playing hard is not going to be enough. So thatβs something weβre going to have to solve.
βDonβt get me wrong. Iβm not challenging our guys in terms of character. We have high-character guys who do the right thing. But thereβs another gear we have to find, and I define that gear as passion.β
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While the faces havenβt changed at Stanford, the philosophy has.
According to UA coach Sean Miller, Haase is bringing an uptempo influence he gained over years of playing for and coaching under Roy Williams (Haase's Kansas playing career ended, coincidentally, to Arizona in the 1997 Sweet 16).
The Cardinal has boosted its tempo from the 283th fastest in Division I last season to a midrange ranking of 178 this season, according to Kenpom.com, and Stanford is currently averaging 70.4 points.
βWith Jerod being a player and an assistant to Roy Williams, they have that fast push to their offense where they really get the ball up and down the floor,β Miller said. βEven at times when they don't shoot quickly, itβs not because they didn't get into their offense fast.
βA big challenge against Stanford is really to get our defense set and get back. Theyβll push it when we make a shot on them and when we miss. So not giving them those easy ones is a big, big key.β
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Players total, counting Stanfordβs Reid Travis, who are in their conference's top five in scoring and rebounding (within the top six conferences). The others are Georgiaβs Yante Maten, Villanovaβs Josh Hart, Purdueβs Caleb Swanigan and Oklahoma Stateβs Jonathan Motley
The series: Stanford is the only Pac-12 team that has never beaten Arizona under Sean Miller (in 12 games since he was hired in 2009), and the Wildcats have a 13-game winning streak overall that is tied with the 13 straight wins Oregon has over USC for the conferenceβs longest win streak in a series. The Wildcats havenβt had a close call since 2013-14, when Aaron Gordon struggled with 2-for-10 shooting in his trip home to the south Bay but Arizona held Stanford scoreless for nearly nine minutes in the second half to pull out a 60-57 win at Maples Pavilion.
Trying to reboot a veteran team, first-year coach Jerod Haase suffered a rough introduction to Pac-12 play on Friday, losing at home to ASU despite a career-high 35 points from emerging standout Marcus Sheffield. The Cardinal allowed ASU to hit 13 of 24 3-pointers and 51 percent of its shots overall. Stanford is normally pretty efficient defensively, allowing 97.1 points per 100 possessions, and it has upgauged the tempo it runs under Haase, pushing the ball constantly to initiate its offense.
The key offensive players are power forward Reid Travis, shooter Dorian Pickens and Sheffield, who can shoot or drive the ball. Travis is back to normal after a stress reaction in his leg derailed him last season. Christian Sanders returned to the point after an indefinite suspension ended his season early under previous coach Johnny Dawkins but Robert Cartwright has been the starter.
Sheffield had a career-night against ASU, which only means UAβs perimeter defenders will have more incentive to slow him. The bigger issue for the Wildcats might be stopping the rugged and crafty big man from scoring or getting to the line.
βThe challenge honestly is they have a lot of movement. They move the defense. Travis is always a threat. You have to take stuff away from him and if you do theyβve got guys like (Dorian) Pickens and Marcus Sheffield. We have to keep Travis off the free-throw line. The other big guys give Travis an opportunity to go one-on-one. They can really shoot the ball, pick-and-pop.β
UA assistant coach Book Richardson, who scouted the Cardinal
After he won his 200th game as Arizonaβs coach on Friday at Cal, Sean Miller was asked if that was just a number.
It wasnβt.
βAnytime as a coach, when you hit one of those itβ means something, Miller said. βI know a lot of guys answer the question like it doesnβt, but being a college basketball coach isnβt easy, especially in this his day and age when one season to the next so many things can change.β
In Millerβs case, since his hiring in 2009, he spent several seasons rebuilding the Wildcats and the most recent ones reloading while his best players turned pro early.
βI thought about Cal a year ago, a year later they have a very good team β but they had to lose a lottery pick (Jaylen Brown) and those guys donβt grow on trees,β Miller said, in continuing his answer. βSo Arizona is a fantastic place to coach and Iβm lucky to be their coach.β
First-year Stanford coach Jerod Haase has an entire roster of players he didnβt recruit, including seven players who spent two or more seasons under former coach Johnny Dawkins, but that isnβt the problem heβs worried about now.
The Cardinal just needs to play better.
βThe cool part from day one is that the the guys were very, very coachable,β Haase said last week. βThere wasnβt any pushback with the new staff. They were invested right away. But I think overall weβre still thinking a little bit too much. We still have capable shooters and ballhandlers but weβre thinking about the game. β¦ We still have a lot of work together to do.β
After the Cardinal lost 98-93 to ASU on Friday, Haase said he wanted them to think β and play hard.
βWe have to be cerebral and understand the scouting reports and understand the plays that theyβre running, but we have to then be able to play with passion and have a greater sense of urgency,β Haase said after the game, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. βWith Arizona, obviously, if we donβt have that sense of urgency on every single play and every situation, just trying to do the right thing and say weβre playing hard is not going to be enough. So thatβs something weβre going to have to solve.
βDonβt get me wrong. Iβm not challenging our guys in terms of character. We have high-character guys who do the right thing. But thereβs another gear we have to find, and I define that gear as passion.β
While the faces havenβt changed at Stanford, the philosophy has.
According to UA coach Sean Miller, Haase is bringing an uptempo influence he gained over years of playing for and coaching under Roy Williams (Haase's Kansas playing career ended, coincidentally, to Arizona in the 1997 Sweet 16).
The Cardinal has boosted its tempo from the 283th fastest in Division I last season to a midrange ranking of 178 this season, according to Kenpom.com, and Stanford is currently averaging 70.4 points.
βWith Jerod being a player and an assistant to Roy Williams, they have that fast push to their offense where they really get the ball up and down the floor,β Miller said. βEven at times when they don't shoot quickly, itβs not because they didn't get into their offense fast.
βA big challenge against Stanford is really to get our defense set and get back. Theyβll push it when we make a shot on them and when we miss. So not giving them those easy ones is a big, big key.β
Players total, counting Stanfordβs Reid Travis, who are in their conference's top five in scoring and rebounding (within the top six conferences). The others are Georgiaβs Yante Maten, Villanovaβs Josh Hart, Purdueβs Caleb Swanigan and Oklahoma Stateβs Jonathan Motley
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Sean Miller says he might play his point guard more on Sunday at Stanford.
Phoenix product Michael Humphrey is questionable for Stanford today.
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