SEATTLE – Whatever Arizona players felt or said or questioned or worried about after the school took its potential postseason run away earlier this week still largely isn’t clear.
But if the body language they showed Thursday in an 80-53 romp over Washington means anything, the Wildcats will be fine.
Just two days after the school announced it would self-impose a postseason ban because of its pending NCAA infractions case, the Wildcats crushed Washington virtually from tipoff of their New Year’s Eve show at Hec Edmundson Pavilion and, except for some second-half shooting struggles, never really let up.
“It hurt,” forward Jordan Brown said of the ban after Thursday’s game, when he became the only player who has been made available for comment since the school’s decision was announced. “We were just competing to hopefully get to that point but it’s not going to stop us. We’ve still got a lot of work to do. If anything, this gives us more of a job to do.”
That job, of course, is now simply competing for a Pac-12 regular-season title they were not supposed to win.
Picked to finish fifth after losing all of their starters from last season, the Wildcats moved to 8-1 overall and 2-1 in Pac-12 play with the win Thursday. In conference play, the Wildcats already have a respectable down-to-the-wire road loss to Stanford, a convincing win over Colorado, and what was their biggest victory over Washington in Seattle under coach Sean Miller.
That's some momentum, heading into a Saturday game at Washington State, even if the ultimate ceiling now is quite a bit lower.
Miller didn’t deny that part.
“The NCAA Tournament and playing for a championship is why you come to Arizona,” Miller said. “The two words ‘March Madness’ are very important. So when that’s not a possibility, it’s certainly disheartening. However, we also have a really good group and in practice, it feels the same and today’s game felt the same.”
Following Arizona's 80-53 win over Washington, Sean Miller addressed the Wildcats' self-imposed postseason ban for the 2021 NCAA Tournament, along with other pertinent notes from Thursday's win in Seattle.
There was never a doubt that the Wildcats were motivated Thursday from start to finish.
While the Huskies so far are the Pac-12’s worst team, struggling to adjust to a perimeter focus after losing one-and-done big men Jaden McDaniels and Isaiah Stewart, Arizona grabbed the opening tipoff, received a bucket from Brown 17 seconds into the game and never trailed.
Brown wound up leading the way while Arizona crushed the Huskies in rebounding, 58-30, and outscored them 36-24 in the paint.
The Wildcats’ four post players combined for 36 points and 23 rebounds: Brown had 12 points and seven rebounds while Azuolas Tubelis collected 10 points and seven rebounds. Off the bench, Christian Koloko had eight points and six rebounds while Ira Lee had six and three.
“We felt we had an advantage with our depth inside but a lot of times you don’t really know until the game is being played,” Miller said. “But we certainly were the more physical, bigger group."
Arizona's Jemarl Baker Jr. (3) defends against Washington's Erik Stevenson (10) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Thursday, Dec. 31, 2020, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
On top of all that work inside, the Wildcats didn’t allow the Huskies’ perimeter game to do much of anything, really. Washington shot 19.4% (6 for 31) from 3-point range and just 31.5% overall. While guard Quade Green led all scorers with 23 points, he was only 8 for 21 overall and 3 of 13 from 3-point range.
And while Arizona shot 42.0% from the field and just 61.5% from the free-throw line, they made up for it, again, by dominating on the glass.
Arizona’s 19 offensive rebounds effectively gave the Wildcats a workaround to any troubles they had with Washington’s zone defense, with UA putting back a total of 19 second-chance points largely behind the defense.
“The rebound differential was a big factor,” Miller said. “Against Washington’s zone, you always try to get those second shots. We were able to do it early and I think that kind of set the tone.”
The Wildcats started building double-digit leads nine minutes into the game, while Akinjo had a flashy sequence later in the half while Arizona went ahead 36-21 with four minutes left. Akinjo hit a fast-break 3-pointer, the sort that highlighted his 5-for-7 3-point effort on Monday against Colorado, and then came back and fired an alley-oop pass to Bennedict Mathurin, who drove down the left side and elevated to catch it and slam it in.
Up 42-28 at halftime, the Wildcats didn’t extend their lead over the first 12 minutes of the second half in large part because they shot only 28.6% over that time. Tubelis had the most trouble with his shot, going 1 for 7 in that period but collecting six rebounds, including one grab of his own missed shot.
Jordan Brown had a near double-double 12 points and seven rebounds in Arizona's 80-53 win over Washington in Seattle on Thursday. UA moved to 8-1 on the season with the win.
But UA still led 63-41 at that point, and expanded its lead slightly from there, even as both teams cleared their benches.
Afterward, the Wildcats boarded a plane bound for Spokane, due to arrive just before the New Year kicked in, with a date at undefeated Washington State (8-0) scheduled for Saturday in Pullman.
The road ahead may be shorter, but it’s still a road Miller says the Wildcats want to go down.
“If there’s ever a test of a young person’s character, it’s when they get hit with some tough news,” Miller said. “Now they have a choice of how they respond. I think you saw that with today’s performance. I saw it immediately in practice.
"We’ve got a good group of leadership. We have a great group of kids, supported by some families who really trust us as coaches. Now it’s up to us now to really put together the most exciting and best nine weeks that we can.”
