Justin Coleman has had better box score numbers. On Saturday in UA's 84-81 overtime win over Utah, Coleman was 1 for 8 shooting, three assists to three turnovers, three rebounds and a steal.
But there was also this number: 33 minutes played after suffering what UA coach Sean Miller called the "excruciating pain" of a dislocated shoulder on Monday.
βYou have to really give a lot of credit to one of your players who gave you everything, and he really gave us everything this weekend when he didnβt have to,β Miller said. βThe safe move would have been `Coach, I canβt play this weekend.β And he helped us. Without him I donβt know if we would have won both games. Maybe we wouldnβt have won either. I donβt know. I think he deserves a lot of credit.β
The Wildcats would have likely beaten Colorado without Coleman, who played just four minutes of a 64-56 win Thursday, but Miller said Coleman made some key plays offensively on Saturday to help the Wildcats, including setting up Chase Jeter with a dunk that cut Utahβs lead to 68-66 with 4:26 remaining in overtime.
βHe made some great plays,β Miller said. βKeeping the dribble under the basket and finding Chase late in the game was a great pass and he made a number of other plays as well. β¦
βItβs one thing to be named captain and have great performances but sometimes you have to really give a lot of credit to one of your players who gave you everything and he really gave us everything this weekend when he didnβt have to.β
Miller said Coleman didnβt practice Tuesday or Wednesday last week after dislocating his left shoulder on Monday, and practiced slightly on Friday before playing Saturday. Miller said after Saturdayβs game that Coleman was at about 80 percent and hoped heβd hit 100 soon.
βPart 1 is if youβre walking outside right now how itβs `How healthy you are,β or how can you function?'β Miller said. βPart 2 is confidence, repetition, being out of rhythm when youβve never done anything from Monday to (Saturday). Thatβs hard as well so I think heβs anxious as we all are to get him back in the floor in a rhythm and hopefully when we show up at Stanford, heβs the best version of himself.β
Utah left Arizona with a loss at McKale but also a lot of confidence after beating ASU and taking the Wildcats into overtime without leading scorer Sedrick Barefield.
Miller spoke highly of the Utesβ trajectory.
βUtah, I sensed it, theyβre on the rise,β Miller said. βTheyβre playing faster, they have a lot of answers and if you just look at our schedule, they are one of the best offensive teams that weβve faced. β¦
βI think theyβre going to be a load in the months of January and February. Itβs a shame college basketball puts so much weight on the month of November because sometimes teams like them go to a completely different category as the season progresses and I think theyβre a far cry from where they would have been at the onset.β
Arizona had what might be viewed as a horrific defensive efficiency afternoon against the Utes, an equivalence of giving up 111 points over 100 possessions, but the Wildcats were even more efficient offensively. They scored their 84 points on 73 possessions, equal to 115 points over 100 possessions.
βIβm thrilled we were able to score because if we werenβt able to score today, we wouldnβt have been able to beat them because theyβre very difficult to defend,β Miller said. Utah coach βLarry Krystkowiak, after timeouts, getting his best players shots -- (defending that) takes amazing concentration and we had a stretch in the second half where we blew four or five assignments, and every time that we missed our assignments, it resulted in a basket or a three.
βAnd thatβs the sign of a great offensive team. But our effort was outstanding. Different players really stepped up and certainly one of the best victories weβve had here at McKale here during our time just because of how hard the game is and how easily it could have gone toward Utah.β
ICYMI, our full coverage from Saturday and PDFs of the box score and stats are attached.
