There were probably times Sean Miller had a few words for Chance Comanche behind the scenes at practice, and then the was the UA-Texas A&M game, when Miller was seen on camera lighting into his talented sophomore center.
Maybe that was the final prod.
Whatever the case, in UA’s 77-46 win over New Mexico on Tuesday, something was different. Comanche confidently blazed through the Lobos’ woeful defense to mostly dunk his way to a 6-for-6 night, while also picking up eight rebounds.
Comanche said he just had to “stop fighting myself,” while Miller spoke of a confidence and effort in Comanche that he hadn’t seen much of until Tuesday.
“Where I’m consistent (in prodding him) is I just want him to play with a lot of energy and effort,” Miller said. “He’s blessed with some amazing talent. He’s 6-foot-11, he runs and he jumps effortlessly. He’s really smart. He plays two positions, and knows everything he’s supposed to do. It’s just go out there and play really hard and use that talent, and tonight he did.
“Just watching the energy plays that he made he’s capable of making those plays night in and night out. He’s one of the many things I’m excited about moving forward because I think the best is yet to come with him.
Miller has expressed concern in recent weeks that some errors Comanche was making weren’t being corrected, but he said Tuesday it wasn’t that Comanche suddenly corrected things.
“No,” he said. “I think he just made his mind up that he was going to go out there and let it all go and it worked out for him.
“For all these guys, it’s confidence. Dusan (Ristic), you can see at some point tonight, he lost his confidence for whatever reason. But in Houston he was spectacular offensively. Each of these guys has their peaks and valleys, especially with inexperience that happens more to a younger player than somebody who’s been through the seasons of a veteran.
“Rawle (Alkins), he’s done some great things for our team but some of those (four) turnovers tonight weren’t good ones. He left his feet, threw the ball to the other team, but he’ll learn. I think his intent is really good. That’s part of coaching this team right now you have to play through some tough times. It’s not gonna be perfect. We don't have a junior-senior point guard backcourt combination. Right now, we have a couple of guards who are out. We have a lot of players who are doing things for the first time.”
So what’s the latest on those “couple of guards?”
Miller said Monday that Parker Jackson-Cartwright could return as soon as the Wildcats’ Dec. 30 Pac-12 opener at California, while Allonzo Trier is still sitting on the bench when he could be playing pro ball in another country if he didn’t think he had a chance to play again for the Wildcats.
“Part of our challenge isn’t just the quality of who we played, but the circumstances that we played the game under,” Miller said. “We’ve never had, except for a handful of games, more than seven available scholarship players, so if we could get some good health and some good news moving forward, it would be nice to have our full allotment of players.
"And if that’s the case, I think this team has a big upside and some of the experiences our younger players have received because of the circumstances will make us a little further along in conference play than we otherwise would have been.”
When Miller finished with that statement, the AP’s Bob Baum asked Miller with a smile: “You expecting good news?”
Miller shook and tilted his head down slightly.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I can’t comment on that.”
Both UA and the NCAA have declined to comment on Trier for over two months now, making it one of the most unusual suspensions (or whatever you want to call it, since officials won't call it anything) to a high-profile player in recent history.
If Trier is allowed to return for conference play, he won't miss any more games. If he has to wait until the halfway point of the season, he would not likely return until Jan. 7 against Colorado, since that would be game No. 17 of a 31-game regular season (or, technically, game 17 of a 32-game season, since the NCAA counts the Pac-12 Tournament as one game).
If he has to wait longer, well, who knows...
Either Kadeem Allen slept a lot after that Texas A&M game, or he just came out even more determined Tuesday.
Or both.
Allen was 0 for 6 with three turnovers to his four assists against the Aggies on Saturday, while also struggling along with his teammates to hold off Texas A&M’s furious late rally, appearing to be tired on both sides of the court.
But on Tuesday, Allen had 11 points, eight rebounds, five assists, a steal and no turnovers while also playing effective defense on New Mexico’s Elijah Brown, who was 5-for-13 from the field (though Brown did get to the line to hit 6 of 9 free throws).
“I thought his leadership in setting the tone on offense and defense says a lot about who he is,” Miller said. “He played great at the beginning of the game and Chance, that was the best game he’s played this season, maybe in two seasons.
The Wildcats will take four full days off starting Wednesday, then hold a practice Christmas night to start getting ready for the Pac-12 season. Most of the players will return Sunday morning but Miller said some might arrive on Christmas Eve.
That’s the upside of having to cram in 13 games between Nov. 11 and Dec. 20, as the Wildcats just did.
“I like giving guys a true break, where they don’t have to worry about anything and can come back ready for conference. That’s our philosophy,” Miller said. “But sometimes when you do that, you can really bite off more than you can chew, because again you’re playing these games the last couple of weeks during the semester, you’re traveling and you need to be ready for every game.
“That’s probably what I like most about our team. I feel like we’ve been ready for every game.”
