Some postgame notes from Arizona's 88-74 win over Colorado on Monday (our coverage of UA's decision to self-impose a postseason ban is here):
By dishing another seven assists without a turnover Monday against Colorado, Terrell Brown now has a 10-1 assist-turnover ratio that is second nationally.
Brown also has a Kenpom โassist rateโ that ranks 74th nationally, with him getting the assist on 32.1% of his teammatesโ baskets when heโs on the floor.
โThat's something I pride myself on,โ Brown said. โI mean, giving James (Akinjo) a break, giving Jemarl a break -- come off the bench and make sure everything still runs the same exact way. So that's just something I pride myself on, not turning the ball over and getting everyone else involved.โ
No doubt thatโs the kind of stat that jumps out at a coach who was a point guard himself.
โI would say on the season right now, heโs 30 assists and no turnovers,โ Sean Miller said, โwhich is amazing.โ
James Akinjo also had eight turnovers to two assists, while Jemarl Baker was 3 to 1 against the Buffaloes.
Even though Brown led the WAC in scoring with 20.7 points a game last season, Miller said one of the reasons he was excited about adding Brown this season was the number of assists (141) relative to his made field goals (225).
Brown also had a Kenpom assist rate of 32.6, the 49th best rate overall last season, meaning again that he made the assist on nearly a third of his teammatesโ baskets when he was on the floor.
Even though Seattle was just 14-15 last season, the Redhawks were first nationally in turnover percentage, losing the ball via turnover on only 13.6% of their possessions.
โSeattle is an excellent team of not turning the ball over and he had the ball in his hands a lot,โ Miller said. โSo putting him out there with James, (or when) James is out of the game and then, at times, having Jamal, James and him and together, you have a really agile ball handling group. They take care of it. They make good decisions and I think they make their teammates better but they also have a way of making each other better to.โ
Removed from the starting lineup on Dec. 22 against Montana, Christian Koloko had just two points on 1-for-4 shooting with one rebound against the Griz. But he returned Monday with aggressiveness to put up his best game of the season, with 10 points, eight rebounds and a block in 18 minutes.
โAgainst Montana, he didn't have a good night,โ Miller said. โWe talked about it. He became frustrated in that game. Christian is an incredibly hard worker. He's one of our best practice players, he was last year, doesn't miss days. He doesn't take segments off. He works. And you want your hard work to translate to games.
โBut as oftentimes is the case, you need game experience to really settle in and gain confidence. Confidence is big for Christian. He came back, had two really good days of practice. Maybe took a break here over the holidays that was much needed, but he had his best game of the season tonight against a very good front line.โ
