Rawle Alkins may or may not start Saturday at New Mexico, but his coach says he’s ready to.
His teammates need him on the floor, too.
Because even though the sophomore forward scored just seven points on 2-for-6 shooting in Saturday’s win over Alabama, Alkins’ return is about more than points, rebounding or even defense.
It’s also about bringing a still-needed boost of confidence to a team still recovering from three losses in the Bahamas.
“No doubt some guys just have that confidence and you know they believe,” UA coach Sean Miller said of Alkins, who made his season debut Saturday after recovering from foot surgery. “When you have a group like ours, it’s really healthy when you have somebody who has that confidence, that look in their eye. It’s just how he’s wired.
“It’s one of the characteristics that made him a successful freshman a year ago, because he was confident and Kobi Simmons was the same way. Both of them embody a lot of confidence in themselves and a belief in what we were doing and that’s the reason we were able to have such a successful nonconference season, with those two guys and Lauri (Markkanen) as starters a year ago” before Allonzo Trier returned from a suspension.
The Wildcats haven’t quite had that same confidence so far this season, especially during their disastrous showing in the Battle 4 Atlantis, a three-games-in-three-days event that Miller still describes as something of an avalanche.
Arizona was ranked No. 2 nationally heading into the tournament. The Wildcats proceeded to lose to North Carolina State, SMU and Purdue, falling completely out of the Top 25 polls afterward.
“We weren’t a very confident group in the Bahamas. I think that’s obvious,” Miller said. “Some of it is you lose the first game and that second game is on you quickly. Whether you win or lose the second one, that third game is on you equally quickly. In our case, we played a terrific team (Purdue) in game three on top of all that. … But we’re a better overall team than we were then.”
The results would indicate as much. Since returning to the United States, the Wildcats have won four straight games, including an overtime win at UNLV, an upset of then-seventh-ranked Texas A&M and a six-point home win against Alabama and star guard Collin Sexton.
“Part of it is guys believe in themselves and we talk about that we can be a good team,” Miller said.
“I think we’ve been able to restore that belief and confidence because we’ve fought. We’ve made plays. We were down big in the first half against UNLV (41-30), and the game against Texas A&M could have gone either way a number of different times.
“And then against a talented group like Alabama, we made big plays down the stretch, we came through. I think each of the three games you could clearly point to improvement in a certain area. … We can also point to a lot of things we can do better especially on defense. We just can continue to grow and be better every day by working on it.”
Freshman Ira Lee said the Wildcats helped themselves by focusing on the future.
“Of course, we were a little down,” Lee said. “You lose three games in a row, you’re gonna be down. But these types of things, you just have to learn how to look forward, forget about the past and know what you’ve got to do to get better.”
That’s where Alkins can help, too. He blew through his teammates well enough behind the scenes that Miller gave him the team’s “gold jersey” for being the team’s best player in practice last week. Alkins then played 22 minutes in the win over Alabama in McKale Center.
“It wasn’t that we gave it to him as a charity,” Miller said Wednesday. “He clearly earned it and that’s quite a statement when you don’t practice for that long and you come in and in the five consecutive practices you end up being the best player that week. He’s a better player than he was last year and I’m anxious for him to get to that level.
“I think that each game he’ll be more and more comfortable and we will be more and more comfortable as a team with him.”
For now, though, with Alkins still regaining physical strength. With freshman Brandon Randolph playing well, Miller said he isn’t sure yet whether Alkins will start Saturday.
“It’s just a matter of time before we make that move,” Miller said. “It’s not going to be at the expense of anybody who’s starting as much as putting our five best players out there at the opening tip and the players who deserve it.”
Rim shots
- Miller said ASU coach Bobby Hurley is “en route” to being a national coach-of-the-year candidate after helping the Sun Devils to a 9-0 start that includes an upset at Kansas on Sunday.
“Whoever plays them this year is going to have a tough game, obviously,” Miller said. “But it’s great for our conference. The more that we win as a conference is only going to allow us to have the most teams in postseason play and really that’s what we all should want.”
- With no game until Saturday, the Wildcats took Sunday and Tuesday off while players finished up fall semester work. “The focus right now is on our players’ academic lives,” Miller said.
