Seen and heard: 'JET' is temporarily grounded, Aaron Gordon inks sneaker deal and Joseph Blair gets NBA coaching gig

Seen and heard from Arizona's 96-53 win over Northern Arizona at McKale Center on Monday. 

Arizona assistant coach Jason Terry missed Monday night's win over NAU after receiving an inconclusive COVID-19 test result, according to a Twitter announcement made by the program just minutes before tipoff. 

Terry will take another coronavirus test Tuesday morning. If it's positive, the next two games on Arizona's schedule — home tilts against Cal State Bakersfield and UTEP — could be in jeopardy, especially if contact tracing proves Terry had close contact with players. 

"It's what it is. ... I think we have a lot of positive thoughts that he's fine," UA coach Sean Miller said in the postgame press conference. 

Terry's inconclusive test marks the first time Arizona has personally experienced COVID-19 issues this season. The Wildcats' initially scheduled season opener against the Lumberjacks on Nov. 25 was postponed following a positive test in the NAU program, and the UA's game against UTEP on Nov. 29 was canceled for the same reason. Arizona swapped its game against New Mexico State on Saturday with UTEP after the Aggies had a player test positive. 

The big number

7

3-pointers guard Jemarl Baker made before missing, the best mark in program history. Baker passed Gilbert Arenas, who made six straight 3-pointers against Washington State in 2001. Arenas, Steve Kerr and Matt Muehlebach, who was a commentator on the Pac-12 Arizona broadcast on Monday, had games where they made five consecutive 3-pointers. Baker finished the night with a career-high 33 points on 7 of 9 made 3-pointers Monday night. 

Minnesota Timberwolves add a pair of ex-Wildcats

The NBA season is scheduled to start in two weeks, putting an end to the shortened offseason after the “bubble” season concluded in October at Disney World Resort in Orlando. And two former Wildcats have joined the Minnesota Timberwolves’ roster and coaching staff. 

Lute Olson product and former UA assistant Joseph Blair announced on Sunday that he is joining Ryan Saunders’ staff, while ex-All-Pac-12 forward Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, who became a free agent following one season with the Toronto Raptors, reached an agreement with the club, according to Yahoo’s Chris Haynes. 

Blair joins Minnesota after one season on Brett Brown’s staff with the Philadelphia 76ers. Before Blair’s stop in Philly, he spent four seasons with the Houston Rockets G League affiliate Rio Grande Valley Vipers. In one season as head coach, Blair led the Vipers to the 2019 G League championship. 

Blair is one of several former Wildcats with an NBA coaching gig, along with Steve Kerr (Golden State Warriors), Bruce Fraser (Golden State Warriors), Miles Simon and Quinton Crawford (Los Angeles Lakers), Luke Walton (Sacramento Kings) and Jesse Mermuys (Sacramento Kings). Matt Brase (Houston Rockets) and Bret Brielmaier (Brooklyn Nets) were recently dismissed after their franchises made coaching changes.

The Timberwolves are Hollis-Jefferson's third team in as many seasons. Hollis-Jefferson played his first four NBA seasons with the Nets before signing a one-year deal with the Raptors. 

The 6-foot-7-inch, 211-pound ‘tweener forward has averaged 9.3 points and 5.6 rebounds per game as an NBA player. He joins a Minnesota team that finished 19-45 in 2020 and took Georgia wing Anthony Edwards with the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA draft. Hollis-Jefferson also reunites with former Nets teammate D’Angelo Russell. 

Aaron Gordon becomes second ex-Wildcat to have signature shoe

Former Arizona star Aaron Gordon became the 18th player currently in the NBA with his own shoe line. Earlier in 2020, Gordon joined “361 Degrees,” a Chinese-based brand leading up to the slam dunk contest during NBA All-Star weekend, after four years with Nike. 

Gordon first wore 361 Degrees shoes at the dunk contest with a pair of customized “Kung Fu Dunk” low-top sneakers with a purple and orange colorway to resemble a California sunset. 

Said Gordon to ESPN’s Nick DePaula on why he chose those colors: "I'm a California kid from the West Coast, bringing a little flavor to the East Coast."

When the Magic season begins against the Miami Heat on Dec. 23, Gordon will debut the “AG1s,” his first signature shoe that has a unique tribute to his family. The black, gray and blue sneakers resemble an ice skate, which pays homage to Gordon’s mother, who used to be an ice hockey player. Gordon and his two siblings, including former UCLA Bruin Drew Gordon, also played hockey when they were kids.

Aaron Gordon’s AG1 sneaker took some unique chassis inspiration from ice skates, a nod to his mom getting the whole family to skate and play hockey often as kids. Some added detail from the design deck here: https://t.co/4SCb6rGMYS pic.twitter.com/VAW0vYrtrp

— Nick DePaula (@NickDePaula) December 7, 2020

The “AG” logo on the tongue of the shoe is very similar to the yin and yang symbol, an ancient element in Chinese cosmology. 

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The AG1s are expected to hit stores in China on Thursday. Gordon also becomes the second UA basketball player ever to have a signature shoe. Arenas had a signature shoe — "Gil Zero" — with Adidas. 

This week has been busy for the former Pac-12 Freshman of the Year. On Sunday, a documentary, produced by Aaron Chapman, about Gordon’s most recent trip to the NBA slam dunk contest, titled “Mr. 50,” was released on YouTube. 

The documentary is a behind-the-scenes perspective of Gordon training and practicing his dunks leading up to the dunk contest, and a compilation of interviews Gordon participated in right before All-Star weekend in Chicago. 

The 2020 contest was Gordon’s third attempt, but the former Wildcat fell short in a dunk-off with Heat guard Derrick Jones Jr. Gordon was the only dunk contest participant to earn a perfect score of 50 in his first four attempts. Gordon’s dunks included jumping over Chicago rapper “Chance the Rapper” and 7-6 Celtics center Tacko Fall. But since Gordon scored lower than Jones in the dunk-off, the Heat guard controversially won the contest. Contest judge Scottie Pippen later revealed on ESPN’s “The Jump” that Gordon was wrongfully scored by Dwyane Wade, who was supposed to give Gordon a score of 10 but accidentally picked nine. 

The documentary followed Gordon after the contest and showed clips of pundits claiming Gordon was robbed of the dunk contest for a second time in his NBA career. Gordon also fell short of Zach LaVine in the 2016 dunk contest. 

“It’s just fuel to the fire, that’s all adversity is,” Gordon said in the documentary. “If I’ve been knocked down 100 times, I’ll get right back up. It’s easy at this point.” 

Gordon is entering his seventh season in the NBA and third year of his four-year, $80 million contract. Gordon will earn $18.1 million this season, making him the highest-paid Wildcat in the NBA. 

On this day

The Wildcats have played on Dec. 7 on a number of occasions. The most notable loss was a 20-point blowout to the Marana Air Base team in 1944. 

The best win for the Wildcats on Dec. 7 came in 1991, when Arizona took down LSU and star center Shaquille O’Neal at McKale Center. 

A year after losing to the Tigers in Baton Rouge, a game in which O’Neal tallied 29 points, 14 rebounds, six blocks and five steals, Arizona responded with a 87-67 win at McKale Center. O’Neal had a more mild performance with 10 points and four rebounds and fouled out of the game. 

Arizona’s big-man duo of Ed Stokes and Sean Rooks harassed O’Neal the entire game and held the star center to 38% shooting. 

“As far as true centers go, Shaquille is the best,” Arizona’s late coaching legend Lute Olson said after the game. “But we think both of our big guys can play, too.”

O’Neal and Rooks wound up becoming NBA teammates for the Los Angeles Lakers between 1996-99.  

For the record 

2-0

Arizona associate head coach Jack Murphy’s record against his former team since joining the Wildcats’ coaching staff last season. Murphy was the head coach at Northern Arizona between 2012-19 and went 0-4 against the UA in that stretch. 

Cardboard cutout of the night

Kyryl Natyazhko has finally made it back to McKale Center for a game. I would’ve preferred the thicc version. pic.twitter.com/g8mM5k8zvx

— Justin Spears (@JustinESports) December 8, 2020

Since spectators aren’t allowed into games at McKale Center until at least 2021, fans can purchase cardboard cutouts to sit in the lower bowl of the arena. One addition to the batch of former UA basketball players was Ukranian center Kyryl Natyazhko, who was Miller’s first recruit at Arizona in 2009, in a graduation cap and gown. 

Natyazhko transferred after the 2011-12 season, when the Wildcats failed to make the NCAA Tournament and lost to Bucknell in the first round of the NIT. Recently, photos of  Natyazhko playing professionally in Ukraine surfaced and the former Wildcat has packed on a noticeable amount of weight. 

The biggest number

100

Number of wins Arizona has over NAU in the head-to-head series. The series started with the Lumberjacks beating the Wildcats 37-32 in Tucson. The last time Arizona lost to a Big Sky opponent was against NAU in 1968, when Arizona fell 76-73 in Flagstaff. Since then, the Wildcats have won 34 straight contests against the Lumberjacks.