Scouting report: Arizona Wildcats vs. No. 20 Colorado Buffaloes

The Star's Bruce Pascoe previews all of the game day essentials, from projected starting lineups to storylines and series history, ahead of the Arizona Wildcats' home contest against No. 20 Colorado. 

Game info

Who: No. 20 Colorado (14-3, 3-1) at Arizona (12-5, 2-2)

Where: McKale Center

When: Saturday, 12:30 p.m.

TV: Ch. 11

Radio: 1290-AM, 107.5-FM

Follow: @TheWildcaster on Twitter / TheWildcaster on Facebook

Probable starters: Arizona

G Nico Mannion (6-3 freshman)

G Dylan Smith (6-5 senior)

F Josh Green (6-6 freshman)

F Stone Gettings (6-9 senior)

C Zeke Nnaji (6-11 freshman)

Probable starters: Colorado

G McKinley Wright (6-0 junior)

G Shane Gatling (6-2 senior)

F D’Shawn Schwartz (6-7 junior)

F Tyler Bey (6-8 junior)

C Evan Battey (6-8 freshman)

How they match up

The series: The Buffs are 0-7 against the Wildcats at McKale Center since joining the Pac-12 in 2011-12. Arizona has beaten Colorado by nine, nine and then eight points in the three previous McKale Center matchups, though CU has won the last three games played in Boulder, including a 67-60 win over the UA last season. At McKale last season, Arizona won 64-56 when Brandon Williams led the UA with 14 points and six assists in their Pac-12 opener.

This season: Arizona will not make the Utah-Colorado trip this season, so Saturday’s game will be their only matchup unless the Wildcats and Buffaloes meet in the Pac-12 Tournament.

Colorado overview: In a conference full of eye-popping freshman talent, the Buffaloes are the exception. They don’t play a single freshman and excel instead by relying on a veteran bunch led by returning all-Pac-12 first-teamers McKinley Wright and Tyler Bey.

Wright is a gritty, versatile point guard whose game and confidence are much bigger than his 6-foot frame might suggest, and he’s also among the nation’s Kenpom leaders in assist rate, recording an assist on 31.8% of teammates’ baskets when he’s on the floor, though he does have 47 turnovers to his 85 assists.

Bey’s versatility makes him able to score from all ranges, get to the line for an average of nearly six times a game and defend virtually any position. Bey is also 12th nationally in defensive rebounding percentage, collecting opponents’ misses 29.3% of the time he’s on the floor.

D’Shawn Schwartz is the Buffs’ most prolific 3-point shooter, making nearly two per game while shooting at a 41.6% rate, and 6-10 stretch forward Lucas Siewert comes off the bench to add 42.9% 3-point shooting. Evan Battey anchors the post, using his 260 pounds effectively and efficiently, hitting 58.5% of his two-pointers.

Overall, the Buffs have the Pac-12’s most efficient offense so far. They are a good 3-point shooting team that can get to the line frequently, with the 41st highest ratio of field free throws taken to field goals taken, but they can be vulnerable to steals and blocked shots.

Defensively, the Buffs are the Pac-12’s fourth-most efficient team, allowing just 93.4 points per 100 possessions, and have been strongest on the perimeter. Pac-12 teams are hitting just 25.7% from 3-point range against them.

He said it

Sean Miller says Colorado’s McKinley Wright is an “excellent college basketball player” and Tyler Bey is “one of college basketball’s best rebounders.” pic.twitter.com/h3z6vlVpSP

— The Wildcaster (@TheWildcaster) January 17, 2020

Key player (Colorado): Tyler Bey

McKinley Wright is the unquestioned engine for Colorado but as a versatile and athletic power forward, Bey might be the Wildcats’ toughest individual matchup. He has the ability to score from all levels and a knack for rebounding, one of Arizona’s weaker areas.

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Key player (Arizona): Nico Mannion

Wright doesn’t nearly have the NBA stock that the UA freshman guard has, but this is a college basketball game on a college floor — and the tough-minded Wright is in his third season as the Buffs’ leader. Mannion’s highly regarded passing, decision-making and athleticism will be tested.

Sidelines

Microwave Max

If you thought Max Hazzard’s 24 points and 6-for-10 3-point shooting in just 17 minutes Thursday represented the kind of impact the former UC Irvine guard might have after transferring to Arizona last spring, well … so did he.

“I definitely felt like myself tonight,” Hazzard said Thursday after he helped UA clobber Utah 93-77. “I got some good looks. My teammates believe in me, my coaching staff believes in me as well. Obviously, I believe in myself so it felt good to kind of get back to what I’m accustomed to doing.”

Hazzard led the Anteaters in scoring last season (12.5 points) and fired up 6.5 3-point attempts per game, hitting them at a 38.8% rate. But entering Thursday’s game, Hazzard averaged just 15.0 minutes a game off the bench and took only 3.0 3s per game, hitting them at a 33.3% rate.

“It’s great to see him shoot the basketball like we see him shoot it a lot in practice,” UA coach Sean Miller said. “You know, in fairness to Max, it takes a little time to get comfortable. But my hope is that there are more moments, like the segment he had there both in the first half and in the second half.”

Hazzard had eight points over three minutes in the first half, hitting two 3-pointers and a turnaround jumper along the baseline that gave UA a 22-11 lead with 11:41 to go in the first half.

Late in the second half, Hazzard scored another seven points in just over two minutes — on a 3-pointer and 4-for-4 free throw shooting.

Change in the air

Whatever the case is with Chase Jeter’s back, he might have been headed out of Arizona’s starting lineup anyway, at least temporarily.

Miller said Jeter reported back pain in the Wildcats’ first practice upon returning from Oregon this week, on Tuesday but also acknowledged that his staff was thinking about making a change anyway. He has hinted over the past week a change could be helpful in the future, then started Stone Gettings in place of Jeter against Utah on Thursday.

“I think getting players more minutes is step one,” Miller said. “I don’t think you want to change the lineup unless you know that group of five doesn’t give us the best chance to get off to a good start.

“Tonight (against Utah), Stone played more minutes (28). Christian Koloko played nine and Ira 12 and a half. Christian and Ira (Lee) combined for eight rebounds, which is good.”

Against Oregon and Oregon State, Jeter had just one rebound in each game. Miller took him out permanently with 13 minutes left in regulation against Oregon and didn’t play him in overtime, then gave him just 18 minutes on Sunday against Oregon State, where Jeter was 3 for 5 from the field but had only one rebound and missed half of his four free throws.

When asked if Jeter might have been suffering back issues that limited his performance last weekend, Miller said:

“I’m only going on what he said … that he felt his back and he’s had a history of that,” Miller said. “So he’s not practiced and he’s more in the rehabilitation part of it.”

Miller said he didn’t “really have a crystal ball” on when Jeter would return.

Welcome back, Buffs

Not only is Colorado 0-7 at McKale Center since joining the Pac-12, but the Buffaloes can’t seem to avoid the place.

The Pac-12 has a rotating unbalanced schedule intended to make sure every team plays every other an even number of times at home and on the road over the course of 10 seasons (geographic rivals play each other twice every season).

But since the Pac-12 is moving to 20 games next season, the final season of that 10-year plan, the conference opted essentially to keep the rotation but restore two games out of what would be the skips for each team.

So for Arizona, the Pac-12 added back a road game at Stanford — and a home game with Colorado.

So while the Buffs will face the UA only at McKale this season, not getting to host the Wildcats in Boulder, they’ll have to come back to McKale next season — when they otherwise would have not had to make an appearance.

“Two years in a row,” Colorado coach Tad Boyle said, chuckling. “That’s life, I guess.”

Numbers game

1

Colorado’s national rank in “minutes continuity,” a Kenpom measure of what percentage of a team’s minutes are played by the same players as the previous season.

4

Players in the country who have scored 24 points in as few as 17 minutes, as Hazzard did Thursday.

16

Years since an Arizona player scored as many as 24 points off the bench in a regulation game as Hazzard did against Utah on Thursday (Hassan Adams had 26 at Oregon on Feb. 19, 2004, while Kevin Parrom had 25 in a triple-overtime game at Cal on Feb. 5, 2011).