Deep Wildcats suddenly may not have enough minutes to go around

When Rawle Alkins finally returned to the Arizona Wildcats on Saturday, happiness was spread all around.

There were the McKale Center fans, who roared with excitement when Alkins entered three minutes into Arizona’s 88-82 win over Alabama.

There was UA coach Sean Miller, who now has all his scholarship players available for the first time this season and more leverage to yank underperformers.

There was junior guard Allonzo Trier, who now has a distraction for opposing perimeter defenses to potentially take some of the heat off him.

And there was the Wildcats’ collective mental health, which received a boost from a player who is arguably the most colorful and aggressive one on the roster.

Alkins played 22 minutes Saturday and he’ll likely play more as he continues to recover from his broken foot and work himself into game shape.

That’s where potential unhappiness can hit elsewhere.

On Saturday, just four days after posting a season-high 13 points against Texas A&M, sophomore guard Dylan Smith played just one minute. Freshman combo guard Alex Barcello played just three.

Senior Keanu Pinder, suddenly squeezed into a small role at power forward, played four. And freshman forward Emmanuel Akot, who drew defensive comparisons from Miller to Rondae Hollis-Jefferson earlier this fall, didn’t play at all.

Akot has knee tendinitis, but Miller has made it clear that isn’t solely what’s keeping him off the floor.

“His knees have been bothering him,” Miller said. “He wasn’t able to play (Saturday) and that doesn’t mean he won’t play in the next game. I think it’s up to him to make it happen.”

So essentially, Miller went with a seven-man rotation Saturday plus Pinder playing his spot minutes. The dropoff to the reserves was even more pronounced because, in the course of the close game with the Crimson Tide, Miller played all five of his starters more minutes than they are averaging.

But Miller said it may not remain that way.

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“I told our team after the game that we don’t have things worked out yet,” Miller said. “You can’t judge us on tonight’s game, and (for) some of the guys who didn’t play much or at all, that doesn’t mean it’ll be like that for the rest of the year. We have to continue to figure this out.

“It’s not as easy as everybody thinks to all of a sudden, (to say after going) 40-something practices and playing game 10 – ‘OK, he’s back, make it work.’ It takes a little bit of time.”

Although Miller will be making this transition earlier in the season this time, it could be similar to what the Wildcats went through last season, when Trier played his first game on Jan. 21 at UCLA after sitting out 19 games because of a positive PED test.

Trier averaged 31.9 minutes while playing the final 18 games of the season, and Miller compensated by trimming a number of players’ minutes.

Most notably, Kobi Simmons dropped from averaging 30.1 minutes a game before Trier’s return to 16.1 after, while Pinder lost 6.3 minutes per game and even Alkins lost 5.3.

While Miller agreed that it will take some communication — and maybe even consoling — with players whose playing time gets cut this season, he also made it clear they’ll have to chin up a bit, too.

Playing time largely will be earned in practice, he said.

“There’s a fine line,” Miller said.

“This is the University of Arizona. Not everybody gets to start and play, and some of the greatest players who played in our program never played as a freshman or weren’t nearly the player they became. But they fought and they earned what they got and they learned what they needed to get better.

“Sometimes at 19 years old, you’re not as ready as you’re gonna be at 20 or 21, so with a program like ours you want to keep these guys practicing and getting ready.

“We have a number of players a year from now that could be our leading scorer, one of our best players, or a starter — and on this year’s team maybe they don’t play as much. But our focus has to be on winning and being the best team that we can be.”

While Simmons wound up leaving Arizona last spring and signing a two-way contract — he’s currently averaging 16.7 points for Memphis’ G League team — Miller warned that those who can’t take the heat probably won’t fare well elsewhere.

“When nothing is given and you have to earn it, the cream will rise to the top,” Miller said. “Sometimes a guy panics, or (his) support system panics, and they run. But very seldom does a guy who runs make it.”