LOS ANGELES β Maybe Sean Miller should have stayed home all week.
So sick last Monday that he made a rare absence from practice, the Arizona coach then experienced the worst two-game road swing of his decade-long UA career.
The Wildcats were blown out for a second consecutive game, 90-69 to UCLA, appearing to lack any sort of rhythm or confidence offensively while playing again without injured center Chase Jeter, who was out after hurting his back against Oregon State on Jan. 19.
They also didnβt really defend or rebound well, either: While Arizona shot just 33.3 percent from the field, the Wildcats allowed UCLA to shoot 57.9 percent and were outrebounded 47-30 by the Bruins.
Combined with Arizonaβs 80-57 loss at USC on Thursday, it was the worst two-game Pac-12 weekend in scoring margin that Miller has ever had as the Wildcatsβ head coach. Arizona has been swept three times previously in Los Angeles under Miller, but the two-game scoring margins were only five (2015-16), 16 (2012-13) and 30 (2010-11).
βWe got killed in both games,β Miller said. βIt really wasnβt close and itβs up to us to respond.β
The Wildcats dropped to 14-7 overall and 5-3 in the Pac-12. UA will face only a Thursday night game at ASU this week, before hosting first-place Washington on Feb. 7.
Both games were remarkably similar in many ways, too. The Wildcats shot just 27.8 percent at USC and were outrebounded by 12 but saved themselves from a worse fate by turning the ball over only seven times.
On Saturday, UA also kept its turnovers in the single digits (nine) but were outrebounded by 17 and pushed their shooting up slightly with some late buckets similar to how it did against USC.
But while USC big men Nick Rakocevic and Bennie Boatwright combined for 39 points and 24 rebounds on Thursday, it was UCLA wing Kris Wilkes who torched the Wildcats this time. Wilkes had a career-high 34 points on 12-for-16 shooting while hitting 5 of 7 3-pointers.
βYou could kind of see the look in his eye,β said UCLA coach Murry Bartow, whose team improved to 11-9 overall and 4-3 in league play. βYou could see that he was confident, that he was making baskets.
βThen in the second half, we started to run a few more things directed for him to make sure we put the ball in his hands. He was just very confident. I like that he wasnβt giddy about it, he was very professional, didnβt change his expression much, but he was in a very confident zone.β
For Arizona, Brandon Williams was a lone bright spot offensively, scoring 19 points on 6-for-13 shooting while making half of his eight 3-pointers while showing a confidence the rest of his teammates did not appear to have.
A Los Angeles native, Williams shot just 3 for 13 on Thursday at USC in his first game home, though Miller said he was doing other things well in that game.
βHe just was in that club when he couldnβt make a shot against USC,β Miller said. βHe was involved in a lot of plays and, it didnβt show up because we got blown out in the game, but his ability to drive it make shots, pass the ball against βSC β he had four assists and no turnovers.
βTonight he played a similar floor game except he made some shots as well. But heβs playing the best basketball of his career. Itβs great to see him come back here to L.A. and really in my mind, string two very solid games in, especially offensively. Where Brandon struggles right now in my mind is just defensively.β
Overall, though the Wildcats overall were just as ineffective as they were on Thursday at USC.
Brandon Randolph was 4 for 16 from the field while Ryan Luther was 2 of 9, Dylan Smith 2 for 7 and Justin Coleman 0 for 3.
βWe canβt make a shot,β Miller said. βI thought at times we really attacked the ball and got the ball in the middle by dribble penetrating but at the end of the day someoneβs gotta throw that thing in and weβre really struggling in that area.β
With Jeter missing inside, Miller tried to upsize his lineup Saturday. He started the 6-foot-7-inch Ira Lee over the 6-5 Smith at power forward, and Lee responded with 11 points and seven rebounds, while Miller also played former walk-on forward Jake DesJardins in spots. Miller said after the USC game that his lineup was the smallest he had played in 15 years as a head coach.
DesJardins, a 6-6 walk-on who was awarded a scholarship for this season, was even assigned to guard 7-1 Moses Brown at one point. DesJardins picked up a rebound in three minutes of action and picked up a foul while going up strong.
However, he missed both free throws to wild cheers from UCLA students, having activated what is known as the βBrick-n for Chickenβ promotion, in which all fans in attendance get a free Chick-fil-A sandwich when an opposing team misses two straight free throws in the second half.
Actually, it was a profitable night all around for UCLA fans. They also picked up a free βSkyslideβ ride because UCLA hit at least eight 3-pointers (the Bruins were 9 of 23 from beyond the arc) and a free βsharable itemβ from Buffalo Wild Wings because the Bruins scored over 82 points.
DesJardinsβ misses left UCLA with a 55-35 lead early in the second half and the Bruins maintained at least a 20-point lead the rest of the way.
In the first half, Arizona put up almost an exact replica of its poor shooting first-half at USC on Thursday, making only 23.5 percent of its shots and falling behind UCLA 38-25 at halftime. At USC, the Wildcats shot 21.2 percent in the first half at USC and trailed 36-19 at the half.
The Wildcats were also outrebounded by 13 in the first half Saturday, although they managed to score seven points off UCLAβs 10 turnovers.
What percentage of UAβs problems had to do with Jeterβs absence wasnβt exactly clear, and Miller declined to guess.
But it was definitely greater than zero.
βWeβre a much better team with Chase,β Miller said. βI donβt know the outcome of these games (if he had played) but he gives us the size up front. He also allows everybody to be in the role that they want to be in. Everybodyβs in a different role right now and weβre playing shorthanded.β
While Miller managed to return to practice Tuesday and guide the team in both Los Angeles games, he was asked after Saturdayβs game if his absence affected the teamβs preparation.
βI donβt know,β he said. βMaybe it did. Hopefully it didnβt. Iβd feel bad if it did.β
