If there was any sense of shock that a sub-.500 team could come into McKale Center and knock off Arizona, as Washington State did last Saturday, maybe the Wildcats have themselves to blame.
They lost three NBA draftees from last season and, as a result, were ranked only No. 17 in the preseason Associated Press Top 25. Also, they were picked to finish second in the Pac-12, decisively behind UCLA.
Then they pretty much wiped out their first six opponents of the season, hula-dancing their way through the Maui Invitational, and last month beat Indiana and Tennessee to reach as high as No. 4 in the AP Top 25.
Quickly, it began to look a lot like last season, when the Wildcats rattled off a 16-1 record en route to a No. 1 NCAA Tournament seed.
“I think everybody are in clouds right now from last year, that that’s how it should be,” UA guard Kerr Kriisa said Saturday after Arizona lost 74-61 to the Cougars. “Of course, our standards are high. We’re trying to win every game. Today was like that.”
But they didn’t win Saturday. Arizona then dropped from No. 5 to No. 9 in the AP poll Monday. There have been some quiet signs lately underneath the Wildcats’ success that an unexpected loss might be coming.
Arizona’s field-goal shooting is the most obvious sign: The Wildcats have shot under 40% in three straight games now, including a 31.7% effort against WSU.
The question is whether those dips are temporary issues the Wildcats can recover from to get back in the top five again or more of a definition of who they really are.
In other words: Have they not been playing like themselves since their Dec. 17 win over Tennessee, or are they starting to now?
“When you say ‘ourselves,’ no one’s guaranteed victory or success,” UA coach Tommy Lloyd said Saturday, when asked if he’d seen signs his team hasn’t been playing like itself lately. “So we’ve got to go out and fight for who we want to be every single game. You’ve got to fight for that identity.
“And there are obviously growing pains over the course of a season, and seasons are far from perfect when you really start dissecting them.”
However you define what they mean, these were some of the alarms the Wildcats triggered between their Dec. 17 win over Tennessee and their Saturday loss to Washington State:
Dec. 20: Arizona 85, Montana State 64
Key stat: 65.6 — Montana State’s 2-point shooting percentage
Warning sign: The Wildcats led the low-major Bobcats 16-15 with 12:33 left in the first half, and after Montana State received a four-point play from RaeQuan Battle and a short jumper from Jubrile Belo, the Wildcats led just 40-37 with just under two minutes left in the first half.
UA led 44-37 at halftime and just 61-52 just after the midway point of the second half.
Saving grace: Six Arizona players scored in double figures.
He said it: “When you sit in my seat and you’re trying to drive a culture, standards ... we’ve got to meet those standards, no matter who we’re playing. I mean, come on, the college guys play 35-40 games (a season), if they’re lucky. You’ve got to be excited to play.
“I’m not saying we didn’t play hard, but I don’t know if we played hard enough. I just feel like our ‘team-ness’ at times can be a little disconnected, and I don’t like that feel. It just doesn’t sit well with me.” — Lloyd
Although Cedric Henderson, left, and Arizona defeated Morgan State by 25 points, there were signs during that game that a loss could be in the offing.
Dec. 22: Arizona 93, Morgan State 68
Key stat: 52.2 — Morgan State’s 3-point shooting percentage
Warning sign: Just 1-7 against Division I teams when they entered McKale Center, the Bears of Baltimore looked like your everyday name-the-score opponent — that is, the outcome would likely depend on how much Lloyd played his reserves.
Instead, Morgan State nailed 12 of 23 3-pointers, trailed by only nine points at halftime and generally hung around until seven minutes were left, when Kriisa hit a 3-pointer to put the Wildcats up by 16.
Saving grace: Azuolas Tubelis had 29 points, nine rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block.
He said it: “When a team is coming into our building, they see us ranked top five in the country, and they want to knock us off. So they’re gonna play their best games, and we’ve got to understand that.” — UA guard Courtney Ramey
Dec. 31: Arizona 69, ASU 60
Key stat: 37.7 — Arizona’s field-goal shooting percentage
Warning sign: With their normally efficient offense sputtering early in the second half, the Wildcats nearly coughed up all of a 17-point halftime lead over just seven minutes. ASU cut it to 49-47 with 13:06 left before Arizona went on a 10-3 run and kept the Sun Devils at least six points behind the rest of the way.
Saving grace: Tubelis had 21 points and nine rebounds.
He said it: “I thought we lacked composure for a certain stretch. I wanted our guys to figure it out. There’s a reason you try to build a lead in the first half, especially on the road, and when you get the opportunity, you’ve got to try to stretch it out because you know they’re going to make that run.” — Lloyd
Jan. 5: Arizona 70, Washington 67
Key stat: 36.4 – Arizona’s field-goal shooting percentage
Warning sign: Arizona allowed Washington to shoot 50% from the field in the first half while actually shooting worse from the field as the game went on. The Huskies held a 46-41 lead five minutes into the second half.
Saving grace: Center Oumar Ballo returned from a sickness that required hospitalization to play 34 minutes, converting a three-point play with 9:38 left that gave Arizona its first lead of the second half.
He said it: “We withstood some rallies today. The second half wasn’t what we drew up, but the guys hung in there.” — Lloyd
Rim shots
Arizona’s drop to No. 9 in the AP was consistent with major computer-based metrics. The Wildcats now are rated No. 9 in the NET, No. 11 in Sagarin and No. 11 in Kenpom. UCLA, the only other Pac-12 team in the Top 25, leapfrogged the Wildcats while jumping from No. 10 to No. 7.
Colorado’s Tristan da Silva was named the Pac-12 Player of the Week, beating out WSU’s Mouhamed Gueye and UA’s Tubelis, among others. Da Silva averaged 23.5 points and 6.0 rebounds in Colorado’s sweep over the Oregon schools last weekend, while dropping 30 points on Oregon. Tubelis averaged 23.5 points and 12 rebounds in UA’s win over Washington and loss to WSU. Gueye had 24 points and 14 rebounds in WSU’s win over UA, including a dagger 3-pointer that gave the Cougars a 68-56 lead with 1:54 left.
UCLA’s Adem Bona was named the Pac-12 Freshman of the Week after collecting eight points and 10 rebounds in the Bruins’ 60-58 win over USC.
McKale Center was built at the University of Arizona in the early 1970s. There have been updates through the years.
