In the big picture, maybe Arizona doesn’t have all that much to complain about.
The Wildcats schedule one or two true road games every season largely for the purpose of preparing for hostile environments ahead in the Pac-12 season, and they wound up splitting a pair of games this time.
The Wildcats beat UConn 76-72 before a hostile crowd in Hartford, Conn., on Dec. 2 and came back from 19 points to stay competitive against a less-hostile but still nearly five-figure crowd at Alabama on Sunday.
What’s more, according to Kenpom, the Wildcats aren’t predicted to lose again until Jan. 26 at UCLA, a span of 10 games that would almost assuredly put the Wildcats in the Top 25 and in position to reach the NCAA Tournament.
For a team replacing five starters, and one that was picked to finish fourth in the Pac-12, maybe that’s about as good as can be expected at this point.
Unless you’re Sean Miller, that is.
The UA coach gave his players an earful after Sunday’s game, possibly because he’s trying to set a hard-nosed identity, and almost certainly because he’s trying to max out what he has by getting the Wildcats to play all-out for 40 minutes.
For him, right now, it’s the smaller picture that matters. Asked about the two road trips combined, Miller said he could only view it a game at a time at this point, still being upset to see how the Alabama game slipped away after the Wildcats came back from 19 points down.
Instead of comparing it to how Arizona hung on to win at UConn when its offense struggled in the second half, Miller compared Sunday’s game to how the Wildcats stayed with Top 10 teams Gonzaga and Auburn in Maui and then fell apart.
“This was a very similar game to our other losses, where throughout the game we played some very good basketball,” Miller said. “We fought hard to give ourselves a chance. But we weren’t good enough to win and move on.”
Except for the fact that the UA received only six points from its bench, the Wildcats weren’t glaringly lacking statistically. They even had just four turnovers in the first half and 11 for the game.
“We had some good execution playing the game with the turnovers that we had,” Miller said. “I think we’ll all sign up for that. Justin (Coleman) had, uncharacteristically, a few (five turnovers to six assists), but for the most part if you go on the road and play with 11, that’s a pretty good job.”
But the Wildcats had some other micro-concerns, including:
Second shots. Alabama’s strength was on the offensive glass, and the Wildcats mostly held their own against it. The Crimson Tide managed only two more second-chance points than Arizona had (18 to 16), while the Wildcats actually collected more offensive rebounds (13) than Alabama (11).
But the Wildcats created their additional offensive rebounding opportunities by taking 14 more field goals, and they converted fewer of them into buckets because they missed some easy ones.
“We had some big second shots that kept us in the game, which I’m really proud of,” Miller said. “But when you get a couple of high-percentage shots during the game, you’ve gotta convert them, whether they’re eight-footers, layups or wide open 3s.”
Transition defense. Alabama shot 48.6 percent from inside the arc while taking 19 layups, many of which they created by beating the Wildcats back downcourt after UA possessions. The Tide made 8 of 12 layups in the first half, when it took leads of up to 19 points, and 6 of 7 layups in the second half.
“We did some good things but gave too many opportunities for them in transition,” Miller said. “That’s something that we can control and what we try to pride ourselves. (We need to make) sure if they score, they score against a team that’s 5 on 5. Not 3 on 2, or 5 on 3. We struggled to run with great effort and there were too many opportunities that they took advantage of in transition where they scored layups or 3s.”
Bench play. Arizona has struggled to get production from its reserves much of the season, and the Wildcats received only six points Sunday, one reason why they couldn’t move forward after coming back from the big deficit.
Removing forward Ryan Luther from the starting lineup three games ago gave the Wildcats a dependable scorer off the bench, but Luther had just four points on 2-for-6 shooting Sunday, along with six rebounds. The only other bench scorer was Ira Lee, who made 1 of 2 shots, while Alabama native Dylan Smith was scoreless with 0-for-3 shooting and Alex Barcello didn’t take a shot in two minutes.
Fouling. Arizona sent Alabama to the foul line 19 more times than the Wildcats went, and that was during a game that Miller called really well officiated.
Part of it might have been that the Wildcats were fouling when they were beaten defensively, though Miller said Alabama’s style of play generated fouls.
“That was their style and aggressiveness,” Miller said. “They did a good job of getting the ball around the basket and in transition to create fouls. We didn’t create as many free-throw attempts as we usually do, but I credit Alabama. The game was really well officiated.”
The good news about all this for Arizona is that the Wildcats have a full week to prepare to play Baylor on Saturday, and just two more home games after that before Christmas break.
Their ambitious travel schedule, in which they went to Hawaii, Connecticut and Alabama within a month, is over.
“This is a difficult time of year because it’s day off, game, travel and then you kind of have to repeat it,” Miller said. “Really for the last two and a half weeks, we haven’t had those four or five days in a row.”
Miller said the priority this week is getting players to finish up the academic semester, though some of them already have.
But there’s lots of second priorities.
And lots of time to work on them.
“We have a week, which I think we need,” Miller said. “We need to kind of take a deep breath and sometimes the best lesson you can learn as a group is to learn through a loss and that’s my hope. That’s really our only choice.”
Rim shots
- Arizona slipped to No. 37 in the NCAA’s NET ratings after its loss at Alabama. The Wildcats are 29 in Sagarin and 48 in Kenpom rankings.
- ASU remained No. 20 in the AP Top 25 rankings despite a 72-66 loss to Nevada on Friday in Los Angeles. UCLA was the only other team from the Pac-12 receiving votes (three).
- Washington’s Jaylen Nowell was named the Pac-12’s Player of the Week after scoring 26 points against Gonzaga and collecting 18 points and nine rebounds in a win over Seattle. Arizona nominated Brandon Williams, who had a double-double against Utah Valley and four 3-pointers on Sunday.
