Benn to Baylor? It almost happened, former UA coach Sean Miller says

Bennedict Mathurin has emerged as one of the top perimeter players in college basketball early in the 2021-22 season. He entered Wednesday's game against Northern Colorado on a three-game stretch in which he averaged 27.6 points and 7.6 rebounds per game.

Arizona's best player nearly spurned the Wildcats for Baylor.

Former UA coach Sean Miller said Tuesday on the "Field of 68" multimedia platform that Arizona squeaked by Baylor to land the Canadian star. Miller called it "a 51-49 victory.”

“Can you imagine that? For the rest of the world, they should be thankful that he didn’t go there,” Miller said of the defending national champion Bears.

Miller was complimentary of Mathurin's offensive progress and how much his jumpshot has improved this season.

“You know how there’s a natural stroke for a golfer? You watch a guy swing and, man, it just looks right. Even when they start playing without a bunch of practice, they just have it,” Miller said. “I would say Benn is kind of like that with shooting. As he’s worked and as he’s grown as a player, he’s one of college basketball’s best.

"He’s playing on a good team and Tommy Lloyd is doing a great job coaching them. It’s not easy in that transition to get it right, when one coach leaves and another comes in, but they really have gotten it right.”

Miller said he watched Arizona’s win over Illinois on Saturday. He credited the Wildcats’ ability to close out a true road game despite the Fighting Illini shooting 16 for 36 from 3-point range.

“It shows the firepower that those guys have right now, and the way they’re playing offense and the way they stick with it, that was an amazing win — one of the best of the early season,” Miller said.

“They have a resiliency and toughness about them where they’re not going to be an easy team to beat.”

Welcome back, Bill

Wearing a powder blue polo shirt and towering over everyone except the players on the court, Bill Walton visited McKale Center for the first time since March 6, 2020, when the Wildcats finished the regular season against Washington. Walton spent Wednesday night as the color analyst for the Pac-12 Networks.

Walton called several UA games during the 2020-21 season, but he — like most broadcasters — worked from home. Walton's setup in San Diego made for plenty of memorable moments during the COVID-19-affected season.

Wednesday night was Walton's first broadcast at McKale Center in 649 days.

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The big number

10

Arizona is 10-0 for the first time since the 2014-15 season, when the Wildcats went to the Elite Eight behind T.J. McConnell, Stanley Johnson, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Brandon Ashley and Kaleb Tarczewski.

Travel debacle brings up NIT memories for ex-Cat Geary

Arizona’s latest road trip was one to remember.

Before the Wildcats’ win over Illinois, the team’s plane — which was carrying players, coaches, support staff and 70-80 boosters — was rerouted to Indianapolis due to low visibility in Champaign, Illinois. Arizona players Ubered two hours from Indy to Champaign in gusty conditions the night before their Saturday afternoon showdown with Illinois.

Former Wildcat Reggie Geary was on the trip, part of his job as a senior development director within the athletic department. (He also serves as a radio analyst for road games.) But since he had arrived in Chicago a few days before the Illinois game, Geary had to communicate with the boosters.

Geary and fellow Wildcat Club employee Ryan Hastings adjusted their plans, which included a booster gathering on Friday night.

“It was just a nightmare. We heard they were about to touch down, but they did not touch down. They gave it a second try, that didn’t work. Then they said they were off to Indianapolis, and Ryan and I sat in the hotel lobby scrambling for reservations,” Geary said on ESPN Tucson earlier this week. “Things were set up for these people to arrive, so it was pretty hectic, to say the least.”

The travel debacle reminded Geary of his senior season at Arizona in 1995-96. Arizona trekked from Tucson to Fayetteville, Arkansas, to face the Arkansas Razorbacks for the preseason NIT. The Wildcats' plane was redirected to Little Rock, a three-hour drive from Fayetteville. Uber and Lyft weren’t yet an option.

“We got to the University of Arkansas campus at like 2 or 3 o’clock in the morning. With Coach (Lute) Olson and his staff, there was no shootaround, we just slept all day and then got up to go play,” Geary said.

Arizona beat No. 16-ranked Arkansas 83-73 at Bud Walton Arena, then took down 16th-ranked Michigan and No. 5 Georgetown at Madison Square Garden in New York.

“We played, luckily we won and got out of there, but I don’t remember seeing the sun the whole time I was there,” Geary said. “It was just one of those trips, but these things happen, you have to adjust and be ready to go when you hit the floor.”