SEATTLE -- Both Arizona coach Sean Miller and center Dusan Ristic made it clear they didn’t think it was about Dominic Green's buzzer-beater.
Nor their offense. In Arizona’s 78-75 loss to Washington on Saturday, the Wildcats made just 2 of 12 3-pointers, and they had 12 turnovers that included three from Parker Jackson-Cartwright. Rawle Alkins, back for a second straight game, was just 2 for 11 from the field, too.
Those are somewhat troubling numbers, but Miller pointed to the success Arizona had inside with Ristic and Deandre Ayton both posting double-doubles, and said he was OK with 12 turnovers against Washington’s 2-3 zone.
“If you can score 47 on them in the second half you have to feel pretty good what you’re doing offensively,” Miller said. “But we had no answer for them on defense and that’s been a part of who we’ve been from the onset.
“Our offense tonight -- I know everybody talks about the 3s -- but that wasn’t really what we were trying to do. Dusan and Deandre were (a combined) 18 for 29 from the field, 40 points they scored. You shoot 50 percent from the field and have 12 turnovers against that defense? That’s something I would have signed up for.
“And also second shots. We had 15 second shots. But our defense against them, if you think about who they are, (Noah) Dickerson is a real emerging low post player -- he had 25. You look at Dominic Green, an excellent 3-point shooter. A couple of his shots happened on blocked shots or loose balls, but that happens. He was 4 for 5. And I think Jaylen Nowell is one of the best freshmen in the country and he had 14.”
Ristic, the lone player UA made available for comment, said he was fine with the Wildcats' offense, too.
“Our offense wasn’t a problem at all,” Ristic said. “I think Washington is one of the best defensive teams in the Pac-12 and we still managed to score 75 points. Our offense wasn’t why we lost tonight.”
Among the defensive breakdowns that really bothered Miller was the fact that Dickerson – despite being four inches shorter than Ayton and Ristic – had 25 points on 10-for-16 shooting, often working the ball in and around UA’s post defense at the bucket to score.
“What (Dickerson) has really done is he’s learned to use his body and seal, so I think he’s 6-foot-7 and he plays a lot bigger than that,” Miller said. “It wasn’t like we weren’t around him. A lot of times he scored over our bigs. And that’s to his credit.
“He averages 12.5 in conference play. He had 25 tonight.”
If the Huskies had some good luck on that final shot from Green, who caught the ball on one bounce straight from Ayton’s deflection of Nowell, Miller noted that the Wildcats had some pretty good luck a week earlier.
That was when Ristic sank a 3-pointer against Utah despite Miller’s instructions to get the ball inside to Ayton on a lob pass.
“We’ve had plenty of good luck,” Miller said. “Dusan hit a 3 and everybody felt good about that but it went in. We’ve had a couple shots at the end at McKale that could have gone in. We’ve had a couple plays that could have gone either way -- and they went our way. Tonight, the ball bounced Washington’s way but to their credit they played hard, had a great crowd. Their players made great plays.
“It was certainly an exciting game if you’re not the coach at Arizona.”
Miller threw some praise at the Huskies, who are now in contention for an NCAA Tournament berth -- and maybe even the Pac-12 title.
“All credit really needs to be paid to them, this atmosphere and Mike Hopkins and the defense and what those kids are doing – they’re doing a really good job,” Miller said. “My hope is they’re an NCAA tournament team. They certainly are knocking on the door. If tonight’s win gets them in, that’s another team we can get in from the Pac-12.”
In the Seattle Times' game story, Green says his game-winner was a "rhythm shot for me."
Times columnist Matt Calkins says the Huskies have become one of Seattle's most pleasant surprises in years.
Hopkins is quoted at the end of the Tacoma News Tribune's game story that it was "divine intervention."
There wasn't time to get much of the postgame reaction into our game story because of the late tipoff but all our coverage is attached to this post, along with PDFs of the box score and updated stats.
