Before he answers any media questions these days, Arizona point guard Justin Coleman begins with a religious expression of thankfulness for his opportunity.
So far, UA coach Sean Miller is thankful to have him.
Coleman had 14 points, seven rebounds and three assists to his two turnovers in Arizona’s 75-64 win over Chaminade on Sunday, and drew seven fouls.
“No. 1, he’s a great kid,” Miller said. “He got his college degree. We’re very lucky to have him. He has the right intentions out there. He’s out there to make everybody better, a lot like when Parker (Jackson-Cartwright) took the court. He took the court to win and do his job.”
While Coleman only had three assists, Miller went out of his way to mention that he also had a lot of dead-on passes that led to shot attempts that were missed by his teammates. Two of Coleman’s assists were to early 3-pointers by Brandon Williams, while his third was an assist on a 3-pointer by Brandon Randolph early in the second half.
“Justin’s very clever in getting his teammates shots and I think if you look closely at Brandon Williams and Brandon Randolph ,a lot of their open threes came off of penetration or a great pass from Justin Coleman,” Miller said. “He’ll be able to do that throughout the year.”
Coleman said he wants to bring leadership to teammates such as Williams, Randolph and Emmanuel Akot.
“I want to lead them in the right direction because they’re really good players,” Coleman said. “It’s my job is to bring leadership to the team.”
At the same time, Miller said he wanted Coleman and Akot, who may be the best passer in the Wildcats’ frontcourt, to establish their own scoring.
“Sometimes, you’re so unselfish that it can work against your team and I think we’ve pointed that out to both guys” Miller said. “We also want them to shoot open shots and sometimes be even more aggressive trying to score because Emmanuel and Justin, in two different ways, they can be double figure scores and we need them to score.”
Both of Akot’s field goals Sunday were off offensive rebounds, something Miller said he’d like to see more of.
“In today’s game, he’s the perfect fit on almost any team that he would be on because he can bring a number of different things to the table,” Miller said. “He had a couple of big offensive rebounds. We want him to do that more aggressively throughout the game. I believe that’s something he’s still getting used to. He had a couple of key second shots. He can use his size on drives, shoot over smaller players and, of course, with his ability to pass and make other people better it’s almost like having a second primary ballhandler out there.
“When you look at our team with guys like Brandon Randolph and Brandon Williams, it’s nice when somebody out there can find them for open looks and Emman can do that. Defensively he does a little bit of everything. Like a lot of players in his class, he has a much bigger role this year so it’s going to take some time for him to settle in. He’s off to a great start. He hasn’t missed a practice and he’s worked extremely hard to have a very good sophomore season.”
Although Brandon Williams led the Wildcats in scoring with 23 points and had three assists, two steals and two blocks, Miller said there’s a lot more for him to learn.
“He can both score and he can facilitate. He’s very unselfish. He’s a freshman though,” Miller said. “He’s learning. There are a number of situations he was involved in tonight, especially on defense where he has to learn from it, see it and understand the consequences -- the ball goes in , bad things happen to our team, if he’s in the wrong place.
"But with all the freshman that we’ve had, the month of November is certainly the most difficult month for them because everything hits them at once for the first time. But all things considered Brandon Williams played a very good game tonight and I would say the same thing about Brandon Randolph.”
Miller gave Chase Jeter 17 minutes after saying he missed about a week and a half due to injury.
Jeter had one point and six rebounds, while missing 3 of 4 free throws, in what was his first appearance in an Arizona uniform against another team.
“Most importantly, his injury is improving and whatever percentage he was a few days ago he’s that much closer to being 100 percent,” Miller said. “When you miss that much time it was just great for him to get out there for the first time. He’s itching to get out there. He’s a really important part of our team. He’s an excellent player. I wouldn’t judge him on tonight’s performance whether it was good or bad but it’s certainly more on his path to recover. I think when you get to Wednesday, assuming there’s no setbacks, you’ll see him maybe in his true form.
“He gives us size and all the things that come with it, a putback on an offensive rebound, somebody around the basket who can block the shot, (somebody) that’s harder to score against, you saw it even tonight in the limited role that he had. He’s also very fleet of foot. He’s quick. He’s smart, and for a guy 6-10 he can move. That’s something that we really count on defensively and Chase is a good defensive player.
He had some good moments tonight but tonight was more about just letting him play and getting him out there for the first time in a long time.”
In Allonzo Trier the past three seasons, Miller had an exceptionally motivated and skilled shot-creator. It’s unclear if this team will develop one.
This season, Miller said he'll need to have some shot-creation on top of the set offenses he's calling for.
“No doubt and there’s a fine line there, because in your quest to micromanage and call plays and control it from the bench, it sometimes can work against your team because they don’t play free and they’re always looking over there,” Miller said. “So I think it’s the balance of you want them to have confidence and play free with flow, where the ball moves easily without plays being called.
“But… we did that a couple of times. One of Brandon Randolph’s best open shots came on a set play where his teammates screened for him and it freed him up. It’s just he didn’t get his own shot. His teammates got him the shot, but it is a different way of looking at it, and it takes some time to get everybody on the same page.
“But that’s what tonight’s game helps with, because we were pushed. We had to try a number of things and the shots that our players were taking. We were under pressure. If we miss them we might lose. So it’s one thing to make a lot of shots when you’re up 20 points but in a game like that I think it’s more representative of what’s to come. We have a lot of different players in new roles. It’s going to take time and tonight was just a step moving forward in the right direction.”
Asked if he was a patient man, Miller said “I don’t know,” but when asked if he would be more patient with this team, said:
“I think so. It certainly feels like it’s the first time for everything and even at the end of the game you’re up nine points, you're under the the two-minute mark. It’s not about scoring, it’s about protecting the ball, running 30 seconds off, or running 24 seconds off and getting a really great shot or getting fouled. It’s not the time to take chances and we made a couple of those at the end. But that’s what the exhibition season is about. We’ll address those things. We have a group of guys who are easy to coach when it comes to wanting to do well.”
Only three Pac-12 players were among the 50 placed on the Naismith Award preseason watch list: USC’s Bennie Boatwright, UCLA’s Kris Wilkes and Oregon’s Bol Bol.
Arizona remains a 100-1 pick to win the NCAA title, according to the latest odds from Bovada. Duke and Kentucky are co-favorites at 5-1, while Oregon (33-1) is the Pac-12’s “favorite” to win it all.
Among his preseason predictions, Yahoo’s Jeff Eisenberg says the Pac-12 may once again be the weakest power conference this season.
After a 6-25 season, Houston Baptist is scheduling aggressively, starting with the season opener against Arizona on Wednesday.
Our full coverage from Sunday night is attached, along with the official box score.
