Maybe the best way for Arizona to prepare for this weekβs Pac-12 Tournament is to forget about the night of Jan. 24.
Thatβs when the Wildcats put up their worst shooting effort of the season (27.8 percent) while losing 80-57 at USC, their first-round opponent Wednesday at noon at Las Vegasβ T-Mobile Arena.
It was the first of the UAβs seven straight losses, a dizzying spell from which the Wildcats have arguably not fully recovered.
βWe really struggled to score,β UA coach Sean Miller said. βTheyβre going to play a 2-3 zone and I think they have two or three players on their team that are really, really good.
βBennie Boatwright is outstanding. (Nick) Rakocevic is one of the most improved players in our conference and those guys, they play with a lot of confidence. Weβre not there yet, but obviously we would have to attack their zone and be successful on that end for us to be able to beat them.β
All that may be the case, but the Wildcats do have some reasons for hope.
One is that center Chase Jeter may be nearly all the way back from a bruised knee that limited him against Oregon and in practice last week. Jeter played 28 minutes on Saturday in the UAβs 72-64 loss to ASU, collecting 11 points and four rebounds. However, Miller noted that Jeter did not get an offensive rebound during a game in which UA had just four of them despite missing 28 shots.
βHe did the best that he could,β Miller said. βI think you see heβs not maybe rebounding as well as he did, but the injuries and the games can really take a toll on a guy, and getting him as healthy as we can for Wednesday is a big priority for us.
βWe need him to play well,and he had some good moments (against ASU). As a team we struggled to get him the ball sometimes, but when we did he had 11 points on four shots.β
Another thing the Wildcats could consider: USC also skidded to the finish line in conference play.
The Trojans have lost four straight games and seven of their past nine. They finished at 8-10, in a three-way tie for eighth place with the UA and Stanford. (USC won the tiebreaker for the No. 8 seed because the Trojans and the UA were both 2-1 within games of that three-team group, but the Trojans beat the UA in their only head-to-head game.)
Both USC (picked fifth) and UA (picked fourth) finished below their projections in the Pac-12 preseason media poll.
Foul troubles
While Jeter was able to play all those minutes Saturday, the Wildcats had guard Brandon Williams around for just 15 minutes and Justin Coleman for 31 after they both fouled out.
Miller put Williams back in Saturdayβs game with four fouls when there was still 13:28 to go, trying to see if he might be able to draw a foul against ASUβs Luguentz Dort.
βItβs probably my fault for bringing Brandon Williams in the game at the time that I did,β Miller said. βA lot of times in these types of games, you have to play to win, you have to roll the dice and give guys the opportunity to play with four fouls or play with two fouls in the first half.
βBut Brandon has struggled with foul trouble since heβs come off his injury. And not only did I put him in a game then, but I gave him a clear-out play on the first play that he was in.
βMy thought process was that Dort was on their end, he had three fouls committed, his third before half time, and to be able to get a fourth foul on him that early or midway through the second half could have helped us. But obviously we got a charge and Brandon fouled out.β
Williams has had 13 fouls over his past three games, when he began playing more heavily after returning from a knee injury.
Pac-12 awards coming
The Pac-12 will announce its annual postseason awards Monday at 5 p.m., and the Wildcats might not have a representative among all-league, all-freshman and all-defensive honors.
Williams finished as the Wildcatsβ leading scorer in conference play (11.7 points) but a six-game absence because of his knee injury could cost him a spot on the all-freshman team.
In addition, the Wildcatsβ top player in nonconference games, wing Brandon Randolph, dipped in Pac-12 play: He averaged 16.6 points on 45.7 percent shooting over 13 nonconference games, but just 10.0 points on 33.2-percent shooting in conference play.
βWhen you win as a team, you get a lot of individual success or individual attention,β Miller said. βA team like Arizona State or Washington has a lot of players that deserve these postseason accolades because of the winning record and some of the things theyβve done.β
Miller said he liked Washingtonβs Matisse Thybulle a lot as the choice for Pac-12 Player of the Year. Thybulle averaged just 9.8 points and 3.3 rebounds in conference play, but spearheaded the Huskiesβ stiff 3-2 zone, averaging 2.6 blocks and 2.3 steals.
βI think he exemplifies their identity,β Miller said. βHeβs just a terrific defensive player.β
