Arizona-Stanford postgame: On Dusan Ristic's production, zone offense and the Buffs

STANFORD, Calif. – Just after Arizona took over sole possession of first place in the Pac-12 on Saturday, the Wildcats couldn’t have asked for a more fitting game to play next.

Colorado, at McKale Center, on Thursday.

The Buffs are the only Pac-12 team to have beaten UA so far and will have to show up in Tucson this time. Then the Wildcats will host Utah on Saturday.

“We just have to stay with it,” UA coach Sean Miller said after the Wildcats beat Stanford 73-71. “It’s a homestand that has great meaning. We lost to Colorado and Utah was a similar game as today (UA's game against Stanford). It could have gone either way. So we’re playing against two really good teams. Both of them are coming off of wins so we have to be ready to go.”

Colorado has split its four games since beating Arizona on Jan. 6 in Boulder, including a loss to Washington on Saturday. Utah beat Washington on Thursday and will host Washington State on Sunday at Salt Lake City (6 p.m. ESPNU).

The Salt Lake Tribune had a big-picture look at where the Utes are going under Larry Krystkowiak.

Both of those teams will likely throw even more zone defense at the Wildcats, of course. While Miller was plenty frustrated with his offense against Stanford’s version of the zone in the first half Saturday, he found progress after halftime.

“In the second half, we weren’t perfect but the execution, the shots, was much better,” he said. “I think the fact that we scored the (42) points did back that up.”

Miller wasn’t happy to see the Wildcats throw up 15 3-pointers against the zone in the first half, but said the Wildcats in particular did a better job of working the ball inside against the zone in the second half.

“Something we didn’t do a good job of all of a sudden we did a great job,” Miller said. “I think it’s a learning opportunity to know that, regardless of what the defense is doing, if we’re patient and we execute, the ball can get there.”

While Stanford managed to hold Deandre Ayton to “just” nine points and eight rebounds, Dusan Ristic came through with 18 points and nine rebounds.

“People don’t talk a lot about Dusan because of Deandre. But Dusan as a senior is a heck of a player,” Miller said. “How he played out there today is a big reason we won. And when Deandre was out, Dusan had two big made field goals against the zone. We got the ball inside and we can’t get away from that. That’s kind of who we are. Everybody benefits when we get it in there. The end of the first half we really got away from that.”

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Basically, Ristic said he took the shots that Ayton wasn’t allowed to take.

“They focused their defense more on Deandre and I found a chance,” he said. “My teammates found me open and that’s how I scored the majority of my points.”

Ayton has created expectations so high that, even with six blocked shots Thursday, Miller faced a question about Ayton’s offensive struggles.

The UA coach didn’t appear happy to discuss it.

“I know that,” he said when asked about Ayton’s 4-for-10 shooting. “What else you got?”

Miller also was in no mood to discuss what might have been a game-changing technical foul he picked up, when he rode official Tony Padilla in the second half after Deandre Ayton was whistled for a fourth foul.

“I’m not gonna talk about that,” Miller said.

The Wildcats were down by 11 at the time and, immediately after the technical, went on an 11-0 run to tie it up.

Rawle Alkins said players knew they simply “couldn’t give up” at that point.

The way he spoke, Miller wouldn’t be surprised if Stanford is still in the race by the time the Cardinal return to McKale Center on March 1, in the second to last game of the regular season for both teams.

“Stanford’s good,” Miller said. “We didn’t say what we said prior to the game just to make them feel good. I think Jerod (Haase, Stanford coach) is one of the best coaches we go against. He has a system. He believes in his system. His system is only going to improve. They have recruited really well. Their freshmen impact the game and the experience plus the freshmen they have gives them really a quality team and I think they’ll be in this Pac-12 race all the way ‘til March.”

Our full coverage from Stanford is attached to this post, along with PDFs of the box score and updated UA stats.