LAS VEGAS -- We are subbing our usual postgame blog post for the UA-Butler scouting report, which didn't make Friday's print editions because of time considerations.
Here goes:
ARIZONA SCOUTING REPORT
Butler (5-0) vs. No. 8 Arizona (5-0) * Las Vegas Invitational * Orleans Arena * Las Vegas * 8:30 p.m. * Fox Sports 1 * 1400-AM
PROBABLE STARTERS
ARIZONA:
G Parker Jackson-Cartwright (5-10 junior)
G Kadeem Allen (6-3 senior)
G Rawle Alkins (6-5 freshman)
F Lauri Markkanen (7-0 freshman)
C Dusan Ristic (7-0 junior)
BUTLER
G Tyler Lewis (5-11 senior)
G Avery Woodson (6-2 senior)
F Kelan Martin (6-7 junior)
F Andrew Chrabascz (6-7 senior)
C Tyler Wideman (6-8 junior)
HOW THEY MATCH UP
The series: Arizona and Butler havenโt met since the Wildcats swept a pair of games during the Wildcatsโ Final Four season of 2000-01. Arizona won 72-60 at McKale Center on Dec. 28, 2000, just before then-coach Lute Olson's wife, Bobbi, passed away, prompting Olson to miss the next five games. Later, during the NCAA tournament, UA went on a defense-fueled 15-0 run in the second half to beat the Bulldogs in the second round of the NCAA tournament at Kansas City. Arizona also beat Butler 108-92 in 1970-71 and thus is 3-0 alltime against the Indianapolis school.
Butler overview: Even in a year of relative transition for one of high-major college basketballโs most stable programs, the Bulldogs are still old and experienced. Really old and experienced. Butler starts two juniors, one senior and two fifth-year players, counting guards Avery Woodson (a grad transfer from Memphis) and Tyler Lewis (who transferred from N.C. State as a sophomore in 2014). A former McDonalds All-American, Lewis has better than a 3-1 assist-turnover ratio and a respectable shot. Woodson is the Bulldogsโ top perimeter shooting threat, a veteran gunner who is shooting 42.8 percent from three-point range even after a 1-for-4 night Thursday against Valparaiso. Wing forward Kelan Martin is the Bulldogsโ top scorer and a versatile talent on both sides of the ball. In the post, Tyler Wideman knows how to push his 240 pounds around and Andrew Chrabascz had a double-double Thursday with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
KEY PLAYERS
Butler
Kelan Martin
Martin improved steadily over his first two seasons with the Bulldogs, earning second-team all-Big East honors last season. Heโs again the teamโs biggest overall threat as a junior, a strong scorer, rebounder and defender.
Arizona
Kobi Simmons
The UA freshman guard has taken advantage of extra minutes from Allonzo Trierโs ongoing absence and Kadeem Allenโs brief knee trouble to quickly carve out a critical role on offense, becoming the Wildcatsโ second-leading scorer. Much to UA coach Sean Millerโs happiness, heโs also using his considerable athleticism to defend, too.
He said it: โTheyโre a Top 25-caliber team and an NCAA-tournament team, so weโre potentially playing our best opponent (of the season). We know that. Weโll have to play a great game to beat them. I have great respect for their program. โฆ All of those guys, the one common theme they really have is a togetherness about what they do. They donโt beat themselves.โ
-- UA coach Sean Miller
SIDELINES
Growing pains
Butler reached the NCAA tournamentโs championship game in 2010 and 2011 out of the decidedly mid-major Horizon Conference, but has found it isnโt easy to stand out in the Big East, which they joined in 2013-14.
The Bulldogs tied for the league title in their second season of 2014-15 but were fourth last season and they were picked sixth this season by the leagueโs coaches.
But while the competition is tougher, being in the Big East has also helped the Bulldogs recruit at a higher level, even after they brought in current Utah Jazz players Gordon Hayward and Shelvin Mack during their Horizon days.
โWe know weโre going to have to find a high-caliber player but what we canโt get away from is a Butler guy, the guy who has been successful in a Butler uniform and allowed us to be in the Big East,โ Butler coach Chris Holtmann said. โWeโre really sticklers on that. We donโt want to come off that.โ
In the zone
For the second straight game, the Wildcats faced a fulltime zone defense. There were slight differences in that Northern Coloradoโs was a 2-3 and Santa Claraโs was more of a 3-2 matchup but the Wildcats handled it better on Thursday, shooting 48 percent overall and making 9 of 18 three pointers while committing only four second-half turnovers (12 overall).
โIf it wasnโt for a couple of turnovers, I think weโd have been even better against their zone,โ Miller said. โIt was a great experience for our guys to be away from McKale, be challenged, play against a great guard (Jared Brownridge), a very good coach and the other thing about Santa Clara, (Brownridge) is not the only three-point shooter they have.โ
Freshman Kobi Simmons said the Wildcats have already been consistently improving against the zone.
โThe more they challenge us with it, the more we get better at it,โ he said. โWe improve each time, game in and game out. Weโre just going to keep improving against the zone. We have shooters on the wing, we have Lauri (Markkanen), who can stretch the floor. We have a lot of options we can go to.โ
Just a dayโs work
Markkanen played 38 minutes on Monday against Northern Colorado, 36 on Thursday against Santa Clara and who knows how many Friday against Butler. He'll total of probably around 70 minutes over a 26-hour period Thursday and Friday, and 100 since Monday.
But the way Markkanen looks at it, thatโs not much different than his usual existence.
โItโs same thing with practice every day,โ Markkanen said. โWe have long practices five days in a row, so itโs the same.โ
Numbers game
3 โ Of Butlerโs top six scorers who are shooting 64 percent or better from the field.
3 โ Blocks by Rawle Alkins on Thursday against Santa Clara, the first time a UA guard has blocked that many since Kadeem Allen had three in UAโs quadruple overtime loss at USC last season.
4 โ Times in five games Markkanen has led UA in scoring.
4 โ Times in five games Markkanen has led UA in rebounding.
