When he returned fully to practice this week after a month of resting some nasty head injuries, Arizona forward Stone Gettings brought back to the Wildcats his stretch-four shooting, a little crafty inside scoring and some much-needed rebounding.
But while UA coach Sean Miller expressed gratefulness for all those things Thursday, he also mentioned something that may matter to him even more at this point:
“I think he cares a lot,” Miller said of Gettings.
The search for more of that, a team-focused passion, was pretty much the theme of Miller’s news conference Thursday, his first since the Wildcats finished up nonconference play on Dec. 21 with a loss to St. John’s.
That game represented the UA’s third loss in its past four games and, arguably, the Wildcats haven’t been quite the same since winning the Wooden Legacy title over the long Thanksgiving weekend.
So with what appears to be a fierce Pac-12 season ahead, starting with a home game against ASU on Saturday at McKale Center, Miller tried to reset the tone.
He said the Wildcats came back with a great attitude after their long Christmas break but also made it clear that not all of them have had the frame of mind he’s looking for.
He did this, in some cases, by pivoting back from answers to several different questions to repeat his assertion.
For example, when asked how forward Ira Lee and Dylan Smith reacted after being benched in the second half against St. John’s, Miller said they have “responded great” … but said underperforming players need to be removed so somebody else can have a chance, and then transitioned into a football analogy.
His answer ultimately took four minutes.
“I always love to watch college football bowl games because the new narrative becomes, Who’s playing in the bowl game?” Miller said. “Some of college basketball has trickled into college football, and it’s ‘Should I play in the bowl or should I not?’
“I was watching the Alabama game and I know a lot of their juniors who are really talented all seem to play in the game, and when (coach Nick) Saban was asked after the game about it, he gave a great answer. He said, ‘You know, believe it or not they play for the University of Alabama, they play to make an impression because they want to play well, they play because of their teammates and they play because they really care about our program and they’ve invested in it.’”
Basically, they cared.
Do the Wildcats? Miller wondered out loud.
UA coach Sean Miller is under contract through the end of the 2021-22 season.
“I think college basketball … across the country it’s like ‘Of course, coach, we play hard,’” Miller said. “But it’s being a great competitor — that’s a player who’s playing for Arizona who loves the University of Arizona, who came here to be a part of some great legacy and tradition, and who wants to make his own name in terms of winning.”
Of course, Miller also spoke of the tangible things the Wildcats need to do better, the ones he’s already talked a lot about during nonconference play: rebound better (especially on defense), cut down on unnecessary fouls and quit taking silly shots (which also comes with this subtext: Instead of throwing up junk, just get Zeke Nnaji the ball more often.)
“You can’t take stupid shots. You can’t,” Miller said. “This isn’t a circus act. This isn’t an audition. This is — is this shot good for Arizona? Is that a winning play. Is that a winning shot?
“And how you determine that, we have a lot more evidence. We’ve practiced almost 60 times, we have played 13 games, we’re in the month of January. What percentage do you shoot? If you shoot 32%, that’s terrible. I can make the case you should never, ever shoot the ball from that area. It’s not a good enough shot.”
Over its three losses to Baylor, Gonzaga and St. John’s, Arizona averaged 20.3% from 3-point range, including a combined 3-for-20 effort from point guard Nico Mannion. Fellow freshman guard Josh Green is hitting 32.5 from 3-point range for the season, though Mannion (34.9%), Dylan Smith (42.0), Jemarl Baker (44.2) and Max Hazzard (35.0) all have long-range averages that are more acceptable.
And that’s just 3-point shots. There are plenty of midrange shots Miller hasn’t been wild about, either. While the Wildcats are shooting a commendable 55.0% from two, taking Nnaji (72.6%) and the Wildcats’ other four post players out of the equation drops the figure to just 47.7%.
So Miller went on.
“If you have a low-post player and a forward like Zeke who shoots above 70%, we have to get him the ball more,” Miller said. “He needs more free-throw attempts. He needs more catches. He needs more shots. I’m not out there playing. He is. He makes the shots that he shoots.
“But our ill-advised, quick-off-the-dribble, sometimes-20-foot twos, sometimes-off-the-dribble threes, my-turn shots? It’s a selfish way of playing. It hurts our defense. It hurts our fouling. No. 1, it hurts our ability to win.”
Center Chase Jeter, also shooting efficiently inside (60.9%), indicated Miller has tried pretty clearly to emphasize as much behind the closed doors of practice.
“It’s simple: The ball has to touch the paint,” Jeter said Thursday. “And if it doesn’t … you know, the stats and the numbers speak for themselves. That’s been one of our main focal points.”
Even when asked to discuss what he likes about the Wildcats at this point — mostly, their offensive firepower and low turnover rate (17.5% of possessions) — Miller again pivoted back to his concerns about caring enough to value the entire possession, so that the right shot goes up.
“We’ve had big nights on offense and, in some ways, it’s remarkable because we have anywhere between five and 20 possessions that are just not smart,” Miller said. “For us to score and have the success we’ve had on offense in spite of those possessions …”
But of those two other specific concerns, defense and fouling, Miller said Gettings should help improve things. Gettings is cleared to play against ASU, with the only question being whether he will continue to wear a mask that is protecting his cheekbone as it heals from fracture in the Nov. 29 collision that also delivered a concussion.
Miller said Gettings was “itching to get out of the mask,” but that it wasn’t determined yet if he would have to wear it Saturday.
Besides, Miller, at least, was hardly concerned about the cosmetics of it.
“He’s looking great,” Miller said. “It’s really a shot in the arm for us to get him back. Sometimes you don’t value a player until he’s no longer with you, and in Stone’s case, we really missed him. ...
“He took one heck of a shot and ... I mean, you watch guys play through injury and different things, man, as a coach you just love those guys. And Stone’s just done what he’s supposed to.”
