Arizona Wildcats guard Kerr Kriisa (25) blocks a corner shot by Oregon Ducks guard Amauri Hardy (11) during a game at the McKale Center, on Feb. 13, 2021.

 Josh Galemore / Arizona Daily Star

Bummer numbers

Saturday’s 63-61 loss was Arizona’s sixth straight against Oregon dating back to the 2017-18 season, when star freshman and top NBA draft pick Deandre Ayton was a Wildcat. Since Arizona beat Oregon in the 2015 Pac-12 Tournament championship, the Wildcats are 2-9 against the Ducks.

Arizona is also 10-12 all-time against the Ducks with Miller as coach. The only other team the Wildcats have a losing record against under Miller is UCLA (12-14).

Red threads

Unaware that Oregon would be wearing its gray “Mighty Oregon” uniforms on Saturday, Arizona made a last-minute adjustment.

The UA opted to wear its red uniforms for just the second time this season. Both teams Arizona wore red uniforms this season, the Cats have lost. The Wildcats went with the red look in their road-opening loss at Stanford in Santa Cruz, California.

Big Benn

Miller called freshman wing Bennedict Mathurin Arizona’s “most improved player” earlier this week, citing his relentless work ethic throughout the season. Mathurin benefited from the competition in the NBA Academy Latin America in Mexico before committing to Arizona, but he was still viewed as a raw prospect in the developmental stage. Mathurin is averaging 11.9 points and 4.6 rebounds per game this season, and has become arguably the team’s most efficient 3-point shooter.

Entering Saturday, Mathurin was a 46.4% shooter from 3, putting him on pace to edge Khalid Reeves (46.3%) for the top 3-point shooting season by a UA freshman. But after shooting 0 for 6 from beyond the arc against Oregon, Mathurin’s 3-point percentage dipped to 42.7%, which put him in the Lauri Markkanen (42.3%) range for top freshman outside shooters.

Mathurin’s play this season has attracted attention from NBA draft pundits and scouts. The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie said Mathurin “has been one of my favorite under-the-radar prospects this season. He’s on the verge of breaking out big-time, though.” USA Today projects Mathurin to go No. 40 overall to the Houston Rockets in this year’s draft.

Scouts from the Milwaukee Bucks, Utah Jazz and Atlanta Hawks were in attendance for Saturday’s game, for what it’s worth.

Dallas-area guard Shelby lists Wildcats among his 10 finalists

The UA is considered a finalist to land four-star guard Noah Shelby for its 2022 recruiting class. The 6-foot-2-inch, 175-pound Dallas-area combo guard listed his top schools Friday night: UA, Memphis, Kansas, Vanderbilt, Stanford, Minnesota, Virginia, Mississippi State, Baylor and Auburn.

Shelby tweeted that he’s maintained contact with Miller and UA assistant coach Jason Terry.

“They have been telling me how my ability to shoot can open up the offense for everybody,” he wrote.

The big number

5

Countries represented in Arizona’s starting lineup on Saturday: James Akinjo (United States), Kerr Kriisa (Estonia), Bennedict Mathurin (Canada), Azuolas Tubelis (Lithuania) and Christian Koloko (Cameroon).

Lee out again

Arizona’s only scholarship senior, Ira Lee, was held out for a second straight game because of an ankle injury he suffered during practice on Wednesday.

Lee sported a retro white 1997 national championship shirt on the sidelines. UA guard Jemarl Baker, who’s out for the season with a broken wrist, has been known to don vintage Arizona shirts — including an Icecats hockey tee on Thursday. Saturday, Baker wore another 1997 championship shirt featuring the score of the program’s lone title victory over Kentucky.

Baker began his career at Kentucky before transferring to the UA.

Play of the game

With just under three minutes remaining in the first half, Tubelis and Mathurin trapped Oregon wing L.J. Figueroa, forcing him to throw a pass that was deflected by Terrell Brown and into the hands of Akinjo, who pushed it up the floor and found Mathurin for a transition alley-oop.

Different jersey, same guy

Figueroa is a newcomer to the Oregon program, but he certainly isn’t a new face to the Wildcats. The graduate transfer scored 21 points against Arizona at Chase Center in San Francisco last season, when St. John’s beat Arizona 70-67. Figueroa poured in 13 points on three made 3s and six rebounds. Figueroa’s last 3-pointer came with 1:03 left to play to give the Ducks a 60-59 lead.

He said it

“There’s no excuse. You’ve got to win close games. Every losing team has their stories, that you lose this one by one point, you lose that one by two points. There’s a reason you lose: Because you’re getting your ass kicked.” — Miller

— Justin Spears

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