Dylan Smith picked up his fourth foul just three minutes into the second half of Arizona’s 104-67 win over Long Beach State Sunday, when he and the Beach's Trever Irish took turns shoving the ball in each other’s chest and were called for double technicals.
Smith played just six minutes the rest of the way and that limitation came on top of the fact that Arizona no longer has Devonaire Doutrive around.
Yet the Wildcats actually played better after Smith ran into foul trouble.
While Doutrive’s loss undoubtedly leaves the Wildcats without some extra rebounding, athleticism and confidence on the wing, Arizona coach Sean Miller was able to give Max Hazzard 18 minutes, Smith 21 minutes and Jemarl Baker 20 in a slightly tighter rotation.
Hazzard responded with 14 points on 5-for-7 shooting -- all in the second half -- while Baker had 11 points and seven assists to just one turnover.
Miller’s rotation is now down to just nine, and he’s never played more than that regularly anyway.
“It's hard to sub in and out of games,” Miller said. “Depth sounds good on the front end but everybody has to sacrifice a little bit, playing nine or 10 players. I think in some ways that's what happened tonight. You can really hit your stride in the second half of games and at times wear a team out or play through foul trouble. We have a deep team and we just have to continue to grow.”
As it was, Miller substituted up to three players at a time, playing his nine-man rotation with center Christian Koloko also mixing in during the second half along with walk-ons Kory Jones and Matt Weyand.
Miller still has plenty of options.
“Each game is different,” Miller said. “I think the score dictates (the subs), who's playing well who isn't. Foul trouble. And for us we can let guys play a little longer with foul trouble. I don't know if that makes sense but the penalty for getting a guy with three or four (fouls) isn't maybe as dire as it is if you only play six players.”
Hazzard entered Sunday’s game shooting just 26.7% from 3-point range with a season-high of 10 points against Illinois.
On Sunday, his 14 points came with 4 of 6 shooting from 3-point range, doubling his previous season-high of 3s made.
“I was really happy for Max Hazzard,” Miller said. “More than anyone he just didn't look right in the first half, I think. I don't want to say he lost confidence as much as I think he just he wanted to play well so badly that it can work against you.
“I pulled him aside going into the locker room and just told him like, `Look, shoot the ball, play with confidence, be who you are.’ I'm not saying that's why it happened -- I hope that's why it happened – but he's among the best shooters that I have seen, and you saw him get going in the second half. He really can give us that scoring lift off the bench.”
Asked afterward how the performance felt, Hazzard said: “Felt good, man, something I've grown accustomed to. I haven’t shot the ball as well as I wanted to thus far this year. But it’s a small sample size, long season, and I like my chances.”
Available after Sunday’s game for the first time since he dismissed Doutrive on Friday, Miller declined to go into any detail about what happened.
When asked if there was any correlation with his decision and his disappointment with Thursday's game, or any follow-up meeting or attitude involved with Doutrive, Miller said:
“No, no, I mean I gave a pretty thorough statement,” Miller said, “and that's really all I have to say about that.”
Miller’s full statement on Friday:
“Effective immediately, Devonaire Doutrive has been dismissed from our men’s basketball program for violation of team rules. He will continue to receive academic aid and support through the remainder of the current semester. We wish him well in the next steps of his academic and athletic career.”
Baker, meanwhile, doubled his season turnover total on Sunday.
To two. Against 22 assists.
“His assist-to-turnover ratio is just off the charts,” Miller said. “Matter of fact, he had a turnover tonight, it was just crazy. I looked out there thinking, I think that's only his second turnover of the season. It's hard to get mad at a guy who's taking care of the ball as well as he has. That's one of Jemarl’s strengths as a player.”
Arizona actually is the only team in Division I to have four players averaging at least 15 minutes a game who have at least a 2-1 assist turnover ratio.
Baker is averaging 16.1 minutes. Then there’s starters Nico Mannion (30 assists and 14 turnovers) and Josh Green (15 assists, six turnovers) while Hazzard has 15 assists and five turnovers while averaging 17.5 minutes played off the bench.
Full UA stats are attached to this post.
The 122 turnovers Arizona has forced opponents into over its first six games are the most ever through six games in the Miller era, according to UA. The second-best total was 101 over the first six games of the 2012-13 season.
After playing six straight games at home, the Wildcats will finally leave McKale Center for the Wooden Legacy event. While the competition clearly isn’t Maui-quality, Miller said the chance to get away and play three games over four days will be a valuable experience.
“No matter how much you think you’re ready for it, it’s different,” Miller said.
The Wildcats actually haven’t won one of what are now called “MTEs” (multi-team events) since Stanley Johnson led them to the Maui Invitational title in 2014-15. They lost to Providence in the second round of the Wooden Legacy in 2015-16, lost to Butler in the final of the Las Vegas Invitational in 2016-17, finished last in the 2017-18 Battle 4 Atlantis and went 1-2 in Maui last season.
“We have to play well when we go there,” Miller said of the Wooden event. “Last time we went to that tournament, we struggled in our first game (beating Santa Clara in overtime), lost a heartbreaker in game two and then think we ended up being two and one (UA beat Boise State in the third game).
“It was a great learning experience but we didn't necessarily play well. For us, it's been a few years since we've won a championship in one of these tournaments, and we know this is a really good field, a lot of good coaches, good teams. It's up to us to go there and hopefully play our tails off in three games over four days and see where it takes us.”
