CORVALLIS, Ore. –Sean Miller has yanked starters Dylan Smith (St. John’s) and Chase Jeter (Oregon) for substantial periods of time lately -- as well as reserve Ira Lee (St. John's) -- but says he won’t change his starting lineup
At least yet.
“At this point, no,” Miller said Saturday. “That doesn't mean that that may not be in our best interest moving forward but right now I think we have a pretty solid rotation.”
Immediately, then, Miller threw out Stone Gettings’ name.
“I really like how Stone Gettings is playing for us,” Miller continued. “He's the one outlier because he missed so much time and having him with us is, especially as his role increases, that gives us a different look, gives us more firepower. And, I mentioned it before we played Arizona State, I think we're a better team with – I know we're a better team -- with Stone and he's done a good job. I thought he gave us some really good minutes against Oregon.”
Lee and Smith didn't play at all in the second half on Dec. 21 against St. John's. Jeter went 0 for 3 with only one rebound through 12 minutes Thursday at Oregon and didn’t play at all after the 13:08 mark of the second half.
I asked Miller on Saturday if he was OK with Jeter at this point.
“Yeah,” he said. “I mean, we’re a better team when Chase plays well. We need him. He's one of our most experienced players. He's an important key around the basket for us, not just on offense but on defense. We need him to bounce back and I feel like he can do that.”
Oregon State is throwing out the same sort of defensive mixes it always has under Wayne Tinkle but the Beavers aren’t as effective, allowing even poor-shooting ASU to shoot 48.3% on Thursday. In a Gazette-Times story, Tinkle said their effort has been inconsistent.
Our full advance coverage for UA's game with OSU on Sunday is attached to this post.
