Arizona has taken the McKale Center stage five times already this fall, but it turns out that the Wildcatsβ real debut wasnβt until Sunday.
Thatβs when, in a 82-61 win over Cal Poly, the UA not only played with its entire roster fully available for the first time but it also received a balanced offense, cut down on turnovers, rebounded more effectively and, well, generally looked together.
Earlier this fall, the Wildcats played without the since-departed Omar Thielemans for the Red-Blue scrimmage, didnβt have center Chase Jeter at all in the first exhibition game and had a limited version of him in the second because of an ankle injury, while forward Ira Lee was suspended for their Nov. 7 season opener against Houston Baptist.
Arizona relied offensively on guards Brandon Randolph and Brandon Williams through those games, but on Sunday found some significant frontcourt offense for the first time.
Jeter scored a career-high 16 points and forward Ryan Luther led all scorers with 17, while guard Dylan Smith shook off a months-long shooting slump by hitting 4 of 7 3-pointers.
Whatβs more: Williams, the Wildcatsβ multidimensional freshman, shifted from a go-to scorer over the UAβs two exhibition games to a valued ballhandler over its two regular-season games.
Williams had five assists and no turnovers against Houston Baptist, and eight assists with no turnovers Sunday β meaning heβs starting his career with a 13-0 assist turnover ratio.
βThatβs excellent,β UA coach Sean Miller said.
Those were the individual heroics. The teamwork, of course, is what really impressed Miller: After coughing up 11 turnovers in the first half against HBU and allowing the Huskies to collect 18 offensive rebounds over the entire game, the UA responded on Sunday with just seven turnovers and outrebounded Cal Poly 43-33, with the Mustangs getting just five offensive boards.
βThe one thing we worry about with our team, because we have so many new faces, is just turning the ball over in November,β Miller said. βThe second half against Houston Baptist we had just two, and (Sunday) we had just seven. Thatβs the thing Iβm most pleased about: When you can play 60 minutes of college basketball with only nine total turnovers, thatβs a good sign for things to come.β
Arizonaβs rebounding, of course, received a boost from the high-motor Lee, who returned from his one-game suspension against Houston Baptist to collect eight rebounds over just 13 minutes before fouling out. Smith added seven rebounds and Jeter six.
βI thought we were much more formidable, took it seriously and had a number of guys really working hard in that area,β Miller said of the UAβs rebounding.
Smith has already had that drill down, averaging 7.0 rebounds over the Wildcatsβ two exhibition games and two regular-season games.
The difference Sunday was that he started hitting baskets at the same time.
Before Sunday, Smith had shot 20 percent from the field this fall between the UAβs Red-Blue Game, its two exhibition games and the HBU opener. He also had missed all 13 3-pointers heβs taken in non-exhibition games, counting the opener this season, the Wildcatsβ NCAA tournament loss to Buffalo and their three Pac-12 Tournament games last season.
In fact, the last time Smith hit a 3, other than one he made in an exhibition game with Western New Mexico on Oct. 30, was the regular-season finale against Cal at McKale Center last March 3.
So when Smith hit two 3-pointers within 18 seconds of the first half, giving the UA a 30-22 lead after the Wildcats struggled to a 12-12 tie after nine minutes, the crowd of 13,995 at McKale Center cheered warmly.
The same thing happened when Smith sank two more in the second half, during a 20-0 UA run that put the game in the Wildcatsβ control. Arizona led 41-34 at halftime and 43-39 early in the second half, but then kept Cal Poly scoreless for seven minutes and 22 seconds, during which time the Mustangs missed all 10 shots they tried.
It was the first time Smith hit four 3-pointers in a game since Arizona won at Cal in January, in a game when Rawle Alkins sat out because of foot pain.
Miller had foreshadowed the performance by noting Wednesday, after Smith was 1 for 5 from the field against HBU, that he would soon start hitting shots and give the Wildcats a significant boost by doing so.
βDylan being able to take and make open 3s is something thatβs going to help our team,β Miller said, also comparing Smithβs improving defense to former Wildcat guard Kyle Fogg.
βBy the time Kyle got to the end (of his UA career) he was one of our conferenceβs best perimeter defenders and I think Dylan has that makeup,β Miller said. βHeβs smart, heβs hard-playing and it was nice to see him make a couple of shots.β
Especially considering the matchup zone that Cal Poly threw at Arizona, it was also nice for the Wildcats to see Luther make 3 of 5 3s and Jeter make his way inside for his career-high on 6-for-10 shooting.
Jeter did have three turnovers and Luther had one, but Miller attributed them partly to the fact that they were trying too hard to share the ball.
βA lot of times big guys donβt pass, but sometimes those two guys are unselfish to a fault,β Miller said. βWe want them to turn and shoot the ball, get the ball inside. I think good things happen when we can get an inside shot by them.β
Luther and Jeter also spoke modestly afterward, being the two players Arizona selected to be interviewed. Luther tried to give his teammates and Miller some of the credit when he spoke of the technical way the Wildcats were able to solve the zone.
βI think coach has done a good job of getting us ready against the zone,β Luther said. βWe just tried to get the ball in the high post and not be stationary. We were able to screen the top of the zone a couple of times, and get some alleys to drive and from there people just found each other.β
In the end, the Wildcats finished with five guys scoring nine or more points, five guys collecting four or more rebounds, and four guys making at least one 3-pointer.
Itβs a formula they just might try to keep replicating.
βWith this team we donβt have as much a guy who is going to fill it up on the scoreboard, kind of like we had with Allonzo (Trier), Rawle (Alkins) and Deandre (Ayton) last year,β said Jeter, who redshirted last season after transferring from Duke. βAny night any guy can kind of have their go. The effort level needs to be there every night, and different guys are going to have their time.β
