Kadeem Allen may get the stitches out off his right shooting hand in time for Arizona’s game at ASU on Saturday, after the finger appeared to bother him notably against UCLA.
“Because we haven’t given him a lot of time to heal, the stitches can open up,” UA coach Sean Miller said today in his weekly news conference. “He got more stitches added to make sure it’s closed and guard against infection. He’s on the right track. He’s healing and in a lot less pain. He has more movement. Eventually we hope we can take those out. We might be there on Saturday and he might not have any stitches in.”
Allen was seen grabbing his bandaged finger during the UCLA game and he missed a potential game-tying 3-pointer, when Miller said he was “playing on one hand.”
But when asked if Allen broke stitches during the game Saturday, Miller said it was just that he was uncomfortable.
“That bandage bothers him. He’s not comfortable with it,” Miller said. “You think about it -- every time he dribbles, passes, catches, shoots it’s a factor, so maybe on Saturday when we get to that game he won’t have a bandage. I don’t know.”
About that game: ASU moved to 7-10 in Pac-12 play after finishing on a 12-1 tear to upset USC, and the Sun Devils more than ever are using a small-ball approach that could make it tough for UA if their shooters are on Saturday.
“They have a great group of guards but (ASU coach Bobby Hurley) has done a really, really good job,” Miller said. “We know that’s going to be a hard game. That’s a road game, and a conference road game. They have the opportunity to win their last home game against Arizona and we’re playing for part of a Pac-12 championship, so it wont be any easier going there than it was this week at home playing against UCLA and USC.”
Miller said he had a chance to meet with new UA athletic director Dave Heeke, and expressed enthusiasm about him.
“I think we're all very excited to have him,” Miller said. “His experience both as an athletic director in the Mid-American Conference for a decade. That’s a wealth of experience. And he was at Oregon for 18 years and learned (what was) the Pac-10 at that time, the West Coast, so I think the blend of both of those we’re excited to have him and his family here
“I had the chance to meet him and he’s really good guy. Reminds me in some ways of Greg Byrne and almost more experienced in some ways that when Greg first game here."
When asked about the similarities between Byrne and Heeke, Miller said:
“One is he’s a really good person. Easy to talk to, very down to earth, very genuine, and I think he’ll fit in very well here. We’re excited to have him. He’s coming at a very crucial time for our program and the athletic department. I think we’ll be in really good hands."
Allonzo Trier may have scored a career-high 28 points against UCLA, but the Pac-12’s Player of the Week award went to Oregon’s Dillon Brooks – who hit a game-winner at Oregon and helped the Ducks hold off Stanford.
That’s the other side of Miller’s team-success-breeds-individual-accolades mantra.
“If there’s a lesson here nobody’s talking about him because we lost,” Miller said. “No one really cares because you lost the game and that’s how it is in college basketball. When you win big games and your team is great, everybody gives you a lot of attention and when you don’t you’re forgotten.”
Overall, though, Miller praised the way Trier has been playing. Trier is shooting 68.6 percent overall and 64.7 percent from 3-point range in his last three games.
“Allonzo is becoming more comfortable and you’re seeing him kind of enter his best phase,” Miller said. “He missed 19 games and it’s not easy to all of a sudden just plug into a game, plus into a team, and it’s taken him a few weeks here to settle in. But he had a great game in a big game and he was a reason why we were in a game with a chance to win it because not only did he have 28 points but was 11 for 14 from the floor, which was incredibly efficient.”
Miller criticized the Wildcats’ play against UCLA’s 3-2 zone defense but found after watching the video that it was only concentrated in the early second half. He said of the first eight possessions UCLA used the zone in the second, UA was 1 for 8 against it.
“And simultaneously, they caught fire offensively,” Miller said. “The more accurate statement would be to say that for a portion of the game we struggled against their zone.”
According to Miller’s count, UA scored 31 points over the 29 possessions when UCLA used zone.
Miller said he would have liked to see his son Cameron play in the state semifinals and finals for Salpointe last week, but UA had games at virtually the same time.
Still, he said he was most concerned with Cameron’s overall experience at school.
“He’s at a great school,” Miller said. “He loves it there and that’s what you worry about the most. He’s surrounded by a great group of people, teachers, coaches, his teammates. He’s had just an overall great experience at Salpointe on and off the court. That’s all that matters.
“The fact that it happened in the state championship is something he’ll remember forever and I’m very proud of him. He was one of the team’s leaders this year. He played his best at the end. I wished I would have seen it that’s the downside of being a college basketball coach. That happens and you’re not there but I know he understands.”
Miller said it is possible that Cameron attends UA next year but not necessarily as a player. He has been offered a scholarship at Youngstown State and has received other low-major Division I interest.
