During nearly every pregame introduction this season, at the end of their celebratory jog on the court, Arizona starters run into Justin Kier.
They can’t avoid it. You can see how it works on the McKale Center video board before every game, when Kier can be seen exchanging any number of handshake routines with the starters, always with a big smile and a little laughter.
“I feel like I have the personality to do it with all the guys,” Kier said. “All my relationships with the starting five are a lot different.”
Except Saturday, Kier won’t be standing there at the end of the line. This time, as he was for virtually his entire his career before transferring to Arizona last summer, he’ll be the one jogging onto the court.
“Gramps,” as UA guard Pelle Larsson says he calls the Wildcats’ super senior, is scheduled to receive his second start of the season Saturday when Arizona plays Cal in its regular-season finale and hosts Senior Day festivities. (Kier also started on Jan. 15 against Utah, when point guard Kerr Kriisa sat out after some pregame horseplay.)
In the modern-day age of Arizona basketball, Senior Day almost always has a strange sense about it. Last year, for example, Terrell Brown went through the ceremonies after spending all of eight months in Tucson and wouldn’t say if he planned to use an extra year of eligibility granted to COVID-year participants — and then transferred to Washington, where he’s become the Pac-12’s leading scorer.
Arizona’s biggest stars haven’t stuck around for Senior Days in decades, which is why even as potential NBA lottery pick Bennedict Mathurin is expected to play his last game at McKale Center on Saturday, he won’t likely be honored for it.
But for Kier, and the Wildcats, this Senior Day has meaning.
For Kier, it is a celebration of an unusually long and productive six-year college career that he started way back in 2016. He was a three-year starter for George Mason, missing most of the 2019-20 season with a foot stress fracture, and then started all 25 games he played in last season at Georgia.
For Arizona, it is the celebration of a player who could have transferred on condition that he received more time and more starts in order to polish his résumé for the pros, but instead accepted a team-oriented role off the bench.
The Wildcats play only eight guys. Part of the reason is that Kier makes it unnecessary to go any deeper. Kier averages only 6.7 points per game but plays nearly half of every game (19.7 minutes), serving as a trusted ballhandler, a capable defender and an occasional 3-point threat — not to mention the intangibles he brings.
It was Kier, after all, who had a few words with the Wildcats in the locker room after they were surprisingly drubbed at Colorado on Feb. 26, and it was Kier who was chosen afterward by Arizona to meet with the media afterward and explain it all.
“We’re gonna be fine,” Kier said then. “The things I was telling the guys is just ‘Soak this in. That’s not a bad thing. Soak this in and be angry because that’s gonna add that fuel to the fire.”
Three days later, Arizona smoked USC 91-71 before a packed house in Los Angeles to clinch the Pac-12 title.
And two days after that, Kier sent a message on the court.
With UA trailing Stanford 54-53 with just under 12 minutes left Thursday, Kier hit two 3-pointers within 36 seconds, one off an assist from Kriisa and another off an assist from Mathurin. Arizona suddenly held a five-point lead and never trailed again in what became an 81-69 victory.
“He had eight points but it felt like 12,” coach Tommy Lloyd said afterward. “Those were really cool back-to-back shots. It was a great moment. It kind of gave us a little separation there.”
It’s the kind of role Kier has become used to. That’s might not be so easy for a guy who started 120 games before he stepped foot on the Arizona campus last summer, then found out he probably would not start many more, with the Wildcats’ strong perimeter returning core having already become somewhat irreplaceable: Kriisa bringing swagger and confidence at point guard, while Mathurin and Dalen Terry bringing length, athleticism and versatility to the wings.
Justin Kier scored eight points in Thursday's win over Stanford.
Earlier in the season, Kier was already swallowing his pride. And he was proud of doing so.
“I’ve started all my life, so it’s something that doesn’t really define me,” Kier said in November. “But I believe in our coaching staff and I was mature enough to be able to have those conversations. It doesn’t matter what I want. I’m gonna do what’s best for the team to win and bring energy right off the bench and do what I can.
“I’ve been that guy who has been upset if I don’t start. I’ve been that guy in the past and it just makes me happy to see that growth in myself.”
Lately, Lloyd said, the issue hasn’t been Kier grumbling about having fewer minutes but it’s been keeping his confidence up while playing those fewer minutes. Continuity is easy for starters, but not always for reserves who don’t know when they’ll be in a game or for how long.
Lloyd and Kier talked.
“I kind of got on him a week ago because maybe his minutes weren’t exactly what he liked — he wasn’t complaining, but I thought maybe he was letting me take his confidence a little bit,” Lloyd said. “So I just had to tell him, ‘Don’t let a coach take your confidence. You’re a good player. Things happen and for the rest of your career, if you go play overseas or if you’re lucky enough to play in the NBA, you don’t get a hand pick your minutes. So you’ve got to have a great attitude about it. When you get your opportunities, take advantage.’
“I think ever since we had that talk, he’s played a little bit better.”
The summary of Kier’s college career could wind up looking like this: He started 95 games at George Mason, 25 at Georgia and just two at Arizona.
But he also spend that final season as part of a team that won the Pac-12 championship and may also make a deep run in the postseason.
That’s what will go on Kier’s résumé, too.
“A lot of (veteran transfers) want more but that can come in a lot of different areas,” Lloyd said. “More doesn’t have to mean me, and obviously, this group’s experiencing more in a lot of ways that aren’t specifically tied to an individual.
“It’s a great experience for young guys to go through and I know this, Justin’s been contributing. He’s an important part of this team. He’s enjoying every moment of it. He’s enjoying his teammates’ successes, and those traits are gonna allow him to be successful in life beyond here.”
