Kadeem Allen returned from a sprained left knee Friday, triggering a much-needed night of healing and learning for the Arizona Wildcats.
In a 95-65 win over Sacred Heart, the Wildcats took advantage of the chance to test Allen’s knee, to give confidence to big man Dusan Ristic, continue to throw freshman Kobi Simmons and Rawle Alkins into the fire and even to play three walk-ons who might be sorely needed in future spots if their roster issues continue.
They are, after all, 3-0 but still only with eight available scholarship players while Allonzo Trier continues to sit on the bench, his eligibility status still an unspeakable situation for UA officials.
But they’re arguably a better 3-0 than they were a week earlier, when they beat Michigan State in the season opener in Honolulu. That’s what UA coach Sean Miller is most focused on.
“November is a month of leaning. Players are learning. They’re learning each other and they’re learning the system,” Miller said. “But the coaching staff is learning what combination of players work well. Who can do what, what we need to teach and do better as we move to other parts of our schedule.”
The most obvious lesson Friday was that all that hard offseason work by Ristic really is paying off. He struggled in the Wildcats’ first two games, then exploded with a double-double just 28 minutes into Friday’s contest, finishing with 13 points and a career-high 15 rebounds.
“I played pretty bad the first two games, but my confidence didn’t go down because I worked so hard in the offseason, and we won, so I wasn’t concerned,” Ristic said.
Miller said he was really happy about Ristic’s aggressiveness, after Ristic had just eight rebounds total against similarly smaller teams in the first two games.
While Miller has never had to worry about the aggressiveness of freshmen Simmons and Alkins, this time he had to ask them to help guard Sacred Heart mega-scorer Quincy McKnight.
That wasn’t easy. The Wildcats held McKnight to just two shots before halftime, but he dropped 20 on them in the second half to wind up with 22.
“In fairness to them, we’re asking them to guard their team’s best players right now,” Miller said. “We’re allowing them to learn a lot, get a great experience.”
The Wildcats also had the usual aggressiveness from junior forward Keanu Pinder at precisely the right time, too. In what was a generally sluggish game early, Pinder infused energy with a block and a dunk during what became a 16-3 run late in the first half that gave the Wildcats control of the game.
Since the game was never in doubt after that point, with UA taking a 43-18 lead after the run and leading by up to 39 in the second half, the Wildcats played all three of their walk-ons, who could be needed in future crunch times should they keep having roster issues.
“Hopefully, it builds confidence for those guys,” UA guard Parker Jackson-Cartwright said. “Everybody has to be ready to go do their jobs.”
While Jackson-Cartwright had 11 points, four assists and no turnovers, the Wildcats had six players overall in double-figure scoring, led by Lauri Markkanen, who had 22 points and six rebounds.
Allen only played five minutes but Miller said he isn’t yet 100 percent healed, playing only because UA determined he could not make the injury worse by doing so. Allen’s goal is to be fully healed by the time UA faces Santa Clara in Las Vegas on Thanksgiving.
Possibly because one of his teammates, Ray Smith, just retired from basketball after suffering a third torn ACL, Allen may also have to heal mentally a bit, too.
“We were hoping to get him in more, but once the game and score got lopsided, and we saw him on one layup. … There’s a fear factor when your knee hurts,” Miller said. “You don’t necessarily trust it. That’s why it was good for him to get out there a little bit.
“I’m telling you when you’re around Ray and you watch something happen to Ray and your knee hurts, it’s not like you like what you saw. He’s a little bit tentative but structurally, he’s fine.”
