Arizona Wildcats see things to build on despite late-game collapse at UCLA

LOS ANGELES — Maybe because he knew the question was coming, Arizona associate head coach Jack Murphy arched back slightly and almost smiled as it was being asked.

When Sean Miller was ejected for the first time in his 11-year Arizona head coaching career Saturday during the Wildcats’ 69-64 loss at UCLA, was he at least partially trying to fire up the Wildcats up?

“I’ll say this,” Murphy said. “After being a head coach for seven years, I don’t know if any technicals are on purpose, but they certainly come from a good place. I just think tonight coach was in a good place when it came to what he was discussing with the official.”

So what was that discussion exactly?

While it was likely that Miller was upset about a cumulative officiating result that sent UCLA to the free throw line 22 more times than Arizona, it wasn’t easy to read the stream of words he directed toward official Tony Padilla.

After officials reviewed an offensive foul against Christian Koloko, when the UA freshman’s left hand collided with UCLA’s Jalen Hill as he tried to establish position inside, Padilla found himself followed by an angry Miller as he prepared to set up UCLA’s inbounds pass.

Then, once UCLA’s Chris Smith walked the ball upcourt to initiate the play, Miller again lashed out with a few more words at Padilla, who was trailing behind the Bruins.

Padilla signaled a second technical against Miller, which resulted in the UA coach’s automatic ejection. Miller responded with a final word or two, then turned and calmly walked straight to the Wildcats’ locker room as Pauley Pavilion erupted in cheers and waves goodbye.

“I didn’t even hear it,” Murphy said of the Miller-Padilla conversation. “I was concerned about what UCLA was about to run.”

Body language made it clearer what Miller was saying while picking up his first technical in the first half.

That time, in contrast to the relatively calm manner in which Miller handled his ejection, Miller was arguing vehemently that UCLA’s Cody Riley committed a foul on his block of Nico Mannion.

Miller lashed out at official John Higgins, who responded by issuing Miller’s first technical foul near the scorer’s table, then Miller turned to official Eric Curry on the baseline and fired off a few words at him.

Curry acknowledged Miller, then turned away.

“I really don’t know what happened,” said Mannion, who was still on the floor when Miller was T’d up the first time. “You’re probably just gonna have to talk to coach Miller about that.”

Unfortunately, that wasn’t possible. Miller was not available for a postgame interview, even though there are no rules preventing a coach from giving one after being thrown out.

So Murphy, who left a seven-year run as NAU’s head coach to join Miller’s staff last summer, was given the honors instead.

Murphy talked about Miller’s ejection, the Wildcats’ continued poor late-game execution, Josh Green’s absence and some things the Wildcats did well.

Yes, there were some of those things. Especially in comparison to UA’s dreary 57-48 loss at USC on Thursday.

“We had momentum from the start of the game,” Murphy said. “I thought we guarded them really well in the first half and the start of the second half. Even a couple of 3s that they made (were defended well).

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“The guys were in it the entire game mentally. I mean, we led for 34 minutes on the road in Pauley Pavilion. Usually when you do that you’re walking out with a win.

“We just weren’t able to execute the last two minutes or so and let a four-point lead with 2:20 to go squander away.”

Arizona held the Bruins to just 23.1% shooting in the first half and 33.3% overall, while shooting 44.4% themselves. It was a much more efficient effort on both sides of the ball for the Wildcats than their 65-52 loss to UCLA at McKale Center three weeks earlier, when UA shot just 25.4% and allowed the Bruins to go for 51.1%.

Meanwhile, and perhaps more important for Arizona’s postseason future, Mannion’s shooting also showed up.

Having entered Saturday’s game shooting just 28.9% from 3-point range and 35.5% overall in Pac-12 plays — while going 3 of 14 overall at USC on Thursday — the freshman point guard had 19 points at UCLA while shooting 6 for 13 from the field and hitting all five free throws he took.

He caught fire particularly just after halftime, scoring eight points over the first four minutes of the second half on a 3-pointer, a jumper and a 3-point play.

“I felt good,” Mannion said. “Haven’t been shooting the ball great. So it was nice to see a couple shots go in.”

That helped offset some relatively limited production from center Zeke Nnaji, who had 16 points with 6-for-9 field goal shooting but made only 3 of 9 free throws, and the loss of Green for a second straight game with a lower-back issue in a game where Green’s open-court strengths might have bloomed.

“Definitely,” Mannion said. ”I mean, he’s athlete who plays well in transition. So this would be his kind of game.”

But Mannion’s shooting wasn’t enough to compensate for three UA turnovers in the final 1:39 that prevented the Wildcats from stopping what became a 12-4 UCLA run to finish the game.

With Arizona leading 62-60 with 1:39 left, Gettings fired an errant pass to Nnaji, leading to a jumper from UCLA’s Smith that tied the game.

Then UA’s Dylan Smith lost the ball in the paint with 1:09 left, leading to a go-ahead layup from UCLA’s Tyger Campbell — who had missed his first 10 shots from the field.

Finally, with Arizona still trailing only 64-62 and 33 seconds left, guard Max Hazzard took a pass from Mannion and drove along the right wing as UCLA’s Jaime Jaquez shadowed him — but dribbled out of bounds. Hill then hit two free throws after a foul by Jemarl Baker and it was never a one-possession game again.

“We had fouls to give, so we were trying to be aggressive,” UCLA coach Mick Cronin said. “We forced some key turnovers late in the game.”

They had fouls to give, that is, because the Bruins had committed only four fouls through the first 19 minutes of the second half.

Chances are, somewhere inside the Arizona locker room as the second half played out, Miller was aware of that fact.