Instead of celebrating a Senior Day win and three-game winning streak, Arizona will practice Sunday .. and then board another airplane, this time to face the team the Wildcats can never seem to beat.
“I think our guys are really excited to go to Oregon and I’m not just giving you that,” Miller said Saturday after UA beat Washington 75-74. “We've talked to them. I think I’ve got a good feel. I mean, if you were them, it either ends today or it ends at Oregon on Monday.
“I think that they're excited to play against a really good team, a team that's beaten us six times in a row, a team that's beaten us on the last possession of the game I think really the last three times we played them. We know they're really good and playing for a lot. And so, the group that we have, I don't think I have to give them a pep talk. But I will tell you we have to play a lot better on Monday night here than we did here today.”
Does Miller really have a feel for them? Do they really want to go to Eugene?
“Can’t wait,” James Akinjo said.
Added Azuolas Tubelis, noting similarities between Washington's matchup zone and Oregon's defense:
“We want to play them, and we need to finish the season with a win,” he said. “It's a great experience to have one more game against a good team like Oregon … Their defense did the kind of the same as Washington so we need to work on that tomorrow to practice and we'll be ready.”
With one nonconference date still open, Arizona could return home and play another game, or fly somewhere else, but Miller said that wasn’t likely.
The problem is that most teams outside the Pac-12 will either be playing regular season games next weekend, or involved in or preparing for a conference tournament. Arizona also wouldn’t want to play a non-major opponent at this point of the season since it might not feel worthwhile.
“If one fell in our lap, we would love to play a game,” Miller said. “But i just doesn't look good as we've investigated it. I think the last thing that I want to do is just schedule a game to schedule it and not have something more to the game than just, `Hey, let's play another game and see if we get another win.' I think it has to be the right opponent. Or else we move to the offseason and look forward to the future.”
While praising Akinjo, Miller also offered perspective about what he and the rest of his teammates went through since their 9 p.m. game against Washington State on Thursday.
“Our guys walked out of McKale, quarter after midnight. They got COVID tested at 6:30” Friday morning, Miller said. “So they got a good five and a half hours sleep, then practice, bounce back. James pretty much played the entire game on Thursday (36 minutes) plays the entire game here today (38 minutes) and at the 38 minute mark, he make a 3-pointer. He is definitely an all conference player.”
Miller took issue with a question after the game that referenced an inability to get good offensive looks in the final seconds of close games (the Wildcats lost at Stanford by three after Akinjo was called for a late charge, at Colorado by three, and at home to Oregon by two after Chris Duarte hit an open 3 and Arizona couldn't score over the final 17 seconds).
“I mean, look at the end of the (Stanford) game if you can get your all conference point guard at the rim on a block/charge, that’s a heck of a deal,” Miller said. “I know Ziaire Williams on that play did a great job of taking away the layup. We got called for an offensive foul but straight line drives at the end of the game, that's what happened tonight. It was a drive and a great pass and the player has to make the shot. If he didn't make the shot, you could put today's game in that same category, say `You didn't get it done at the end of the game, coach.’
“The other part about the end of game situations is a person that doesn't know the game well focuses on offense. Most of the time, the game is won or lost equally on defense. And against Oregon, one of the things that we didn't do a good job of is we didn't stay on our men. Duarte took a wide-open, uncontested shot. Not on a set play, but on a broken play.
“Against Colorado, when a game was about a minute and 15 seconds, and you have a three-point lead, you have to really be aware that a 3 ties the game. But in that game again we over-helped, we gave them a 3 (by Eli Parquet). And now it's tie game instead of Arizona up one. Those are all all really, really important factors.
“But I'm excited that the Azuolas made the shot. It was a good pass. And they had the last shot of the game and we defended it. … So that's how I saw it today. I wouldn't agree with you that we are a collision course of making bad decisions or haven't been able to win close calls throughout throughout the year.”
When asked after the late-game issues about what he liked in Akinjo’s play, part of Miller’s answer also referred back to the late-game situation again.
“Today's game, in some really pivotal moments where maybe his teammates didn't have the offense and confidence, he showed up and showed up really, really big,” Miller said of Akinjo. “And that's why I'm not going to cave in to the narrative that we didn't finish games.
"Look at USC -- part of finishing that game is parading to the foul line. And instead of it being a tough game that goes to the wire, you put them away. James was a big part of that as well (7 for 8 from the line) so at the end of games, finishing games, there's a lot of ways you can do it.
“For example, at UCLA, there's not a better example of us not finishing a game properly. (In) a game that was tough at half, tough through the first four minutes of the second half, we really let it get away from us because we just could not stop them. We didn't have any fight in us down the stretch in that game. So tonight, it was good to see us be able to break through and leave with a win.”
Miller also had plenty to say when asked where the Wildcats would be without Tubelis.
“He made the game-winning shot so we'll start there, but if you look at the stat sheet, not a lot of freshmen get 16 points, 15 rebounds,” Miller said. “If you just really look at his overall play over the last six weeks, like James being an all Pac 12 player, I think it Azuolas is one of the conference’s best freshmen.
“It's up to me and our staff moving forward to put him in a better position on defense. He struggled tonight on defense, as did our entire team. But he'll get better, just through maturity and growth and experience, but he's also 6-9, 240, and there are just certain teams that you play college, when they have the court spread like Washington did here tonight (it’s difficult).
"We're asking him to do a lot, and it's up to us to put him in a better position to be successful on defense and yet, allow him to be, I think, who he really is on offense. He's certainly a unique and a very very good offensive player.”
Instead of hanging around in the post to get a pass or potential putback opportunity, Tubelis was told to pop out to the left corner. Miller explained (and again referred to the late-game situation).
“He was where he was supposed to be,” Miller said. “We have a lot of offensive sets and put him in the corner. I mean, Azuolas is a capable 3-point shooter. He's not our best, he's capable, but he's also a guy that has a lot of confidence in. He's still able to run it and get a tip in, a second shot. So, that was our thinking there, and I’m glad he made the shot.
“There's always positive thoughts and things you can say if the ball goes in. If he missed that shot, you can easily say, `Hey, another close loss, coach, you guys don't execute at the end of the game’ but so much of it is that the ball will go in or not.”
