Maybe it’s Deandre Ayton’s interior dominance or Allonzo Trier’s efficient scoring, but the national perception of Arizona may not include a secret that could be dangerous to the Wildcats’ long-term health.
After losing 78-75 at Washington on Saturday, Arizona dropped to No. 106 nationally in defensive efficiency.
That’s the kind of number that does not suggest a Final Four appearance, even with UA’s No. 6 offensive efficiency ranking.
“I’m surprised more people haven’t been talking about it,” stats guru Ken Pomeroy said Monday, in an interview with the Star. “It’s definitely been a problem, and I’m not really sure there’s a lot of room for improvement.”
Sean Miller is talking about it, of course. After his team gave up 43 second-half points at Washington — and before high-powered offenses from UCLA and USC come to town — the UA coach said Monday that the Wildcats may be the “worst defensive team” he’s coached, except for his first teams at Xavier and Arizona.
He’s correct on that assertion, too: His first team at Xavier ranked 158th in defensive efficiency and his first team at Arizona was 108th, while all of his other teams have been no worse than 86th.
“This is my 14th year as a head coach and this is maybe the worst defensive team,” Miller said. “In the first year here at Arizona, you gotta recognize who we would have been then. It’s hard to even evaluate what we did. So much was going on.
“Every team has its strengths — we certainly have a number of them — and every team has their weaknesses and it’s up to the coach and staff and players to commit towards things that we can improve. And we’re hard at work I’ll tell you that, at trying to become a better overall more consistent defensive team.”
The fact that Miller’s teams are often known for defense could be another reason why it’s being overlooked nationally, or maybe it’s another twist on the old-East-Coast-bias theory: That is, not many people east of the Rockies may be paying close attention.
“Their defensive efficiency is such a weakness,” Pomeroy said “There’s been infinitely more talk about Duke’s defense (ranked No. 74) but Arizona is in the same boat. Arizona is typically good defensively. They’re not always great, but they’re not usually this bad.”
Nobody knows that more than Miller. Asked where he’d like to Wildcats to rank in defensive efficiency, he rattled off their history in the Kenpom.com rankings.
“I think we’ve been 29 and 29 (the last two seasons) and I didn’t think either of those teams were very good on defense,” he said. Then he referred to his best defensive teams, the one ranked No. 3 in 2014-15 and the one ranked No. 1 in 2013-14.
“Three, one. Three, one,” he said. “And we’re 106 right now.”
“Same practices. McKale hasn’t changed a whole lot. So we have to tweak it. It’s up to the coach. Sometimes what’s worked in the past doesn’t necessarily work with the current team and we have to adjust. We have a little bit but defense — (whether it’s) zone, man, trap, not trap — it comes down to really those same things.”
What’s particularly puzzling about the Wildcats is their massive 100-spot gap between offensive and defensive efficiency ratings. Even Duke is somewhat better off at No. 2 offensively and No. 74 on defense.
Pomeroy said UA’s current profile is similar to last season’s UCLA team, which was No. 2 in offensive efficiency behind Lonzo Ball at point guard but just No. 85 in defensive efficiency.
“They improved a little, and they got into the tournament,” Pomeroy said of the Bruins. “Then they completely reverted to form.”
UCLA lost to Kentucky in the Sweet 16 after allowing the Wildcats of Lexington to shoot 49.2 percent and hit 10 of 23 3-pointers.
While UA point guard Parker Jackson-Cartwright said Monday the Wildcats can improve defensively the rest of the way, it might be hard for Arizona to close their efficiency gap.
In an article he wrote for The Athletic last month, Pomeroy suggested that all coaches have a limited amount of “equity” in both offensive and defensive ability, and that a late-season improvement on defense usually takes away equally from the offense.
“I would say that’s correct,” Miller said. “You just have a lot of equity on both sides of the ball. You’re 75 practices in, you’re 24 games in, and we’re clearly down the home stretch of conference play.”
Pomeroy’s story cited 10 teams since 2007 that ranked in the Top 10 of offensive efficiency in midseason, and outside the Top 70 in defensive efficiency.
Only three reached the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament, and none made the Final Four.
Pomeroy added that teams with great size inside and the ability to defend two-point shots well – two of UA’s characteristics – can improve defensively to a degree as a season winds up without sacrificing offense.
But Miller said he’s not encouraged by that. Instead, he’s mostly looking for the kind of focus and intensity Washington showed early Saturday, when the Huskies jumped to early 9-4 and 26-18 leads.
“The first eight, 10 minutes of the game, they set the tone by being ferocious, ready,” Miller said. “If you’re soft, this isn’t the place, this isn’t the time of year to take the court, and I thought our team for the most part played with some good energy themselves and togetherness, but you’ve gotta be ready at the beginning.
“If you dig yourself a hole and you’re always playing from behind, that in and of itself takes away from your energy and keeps the crowd on an away court electric.”
So what else can the Wildcats do? Miller said a zone defense isn’t the answer, because the same issues could pop up if not accompanied by commitment and effort.
“We have to look at mixing it in, but there’s gonna be a lot of wide open shots that go up if we play zone,” Miller said.
Instead, Miller is hoping each one of his players realizes the need for defensive improvement.
For the team, and for themselves.
“I think everything’s on the table,” Miller said. “I’ve never seen a team, and maybe they are out there, that can have the collective success and go deep into the tournament and win championships because they play one side of the basketball.
“And as an individual player, I don’t know anybody who gets where they want to get if they (only) play when the ball is on their side of the court.
“Those are two goals we have: We want to win and each of our guys would like to leave Arizona and go on to play professionally. But you have to be able to defend and play offense. For us, the scales are really tilted in favor of our offense.”
Rim shots
• Miller said forward Rawle Alkins experienced no additional soreness after playing both games last weekend, even though he struggled at Washington. Alkins was 2 for 11 with two turnovers in 31 minutes.
“It’s difficult,” Miller said. “He hasn’t had any extra soreness from this past game, which is a great sign, but we’re all looking forward to the day when he can be a part of what we do. I think it certainly has to be frustrating with all that he’s gone through with his foot.”
• Arizona dropped four spots to No. 13 in the Associated Press Top 25. ASU dropped out and no other Pac-12 teams jumped in.
• Washington’s Noah Dickerson was named the Pac-12’s Player of the Week after averaging 23.0 points and 11.5 rebounds in the Huskies’ wins over ASU and UA.
