Even after his Portland Trail Blazers brother, Dorell, convinced him to stay in school last spring, Delon Wright never envisioned a day quite like this.
The versatile senior guard figured he would work on his game and aim for this year’s NBA draft. He could count on playing for a good team, one that has never beaten Arizona in Pac-12 play but has come close a few times, and maybe reach the NCAA tournament.
But to play Arizona as the No. 8 team in the country, the highest Utah has been ranked in nearly 16 years? To be on a team that is 14-2, undefeated in 11 home games and has only lost to San Diego State and Kansas?
No. Nope. And no.
“It’s been beyond my expectations,” Wright said Friday. “I didn’t expect us to be top 10, but once we started to play together, I knew we had something special.
“I’m really glad I stayed. It was a tough decision but I’m happy for the program.”
What he saw upon returning to Utah last summer was that coach Larry Krystkowiak, after years of frantically upgrading his roster talent, had brought in yet more reinforcements than ever to a solid team that was already returning just about everybody.
There was suddenly enough talent to make the long-awaited shift of versatile junior Jordan Loveridge to small forward. There were shooters, rebounders and defenders. Experience, size and aggressiveness.
And one of those new guys, Austrian center Jakob Poeltl, was especially better than anybody may have expected. Maybe even better than he looked to Arizona, which attracted him for a recruiting visit last winter, although he committed to Utah about six weeks after Dusan Ristic said he would play for the Wildcats.
Poeltl is a “mobile 7-footer who’s a great rebounder and it’s amazing to me how intelligent he is as a freshman,” UA coach Sean Miller said. “It’s one of the things that’s helped Utah go from very good to great.”
Then there’s Wright, whom Miller says is even better this season after leading the Pac-12 last season in steals (2.6) and ranking in the top 12 during conference play in scoring, rebounding, assists, field-goal percentage, free-throw percentage, blocked shots, assist-turnover ratio and scrubbing the kitchen sink. Or something like that.
Basically, just about everything except three-point shooting.
This season, Wright is averaging 15.3 points, 4.5 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 2.4 steals while being named one of 25 Wooden Award midseason candidates last week.
“Obviously, he’s added to what he did a year ago,” Miller said. “And he’s done it in all ways, with assists, defense and obviously scoring.”
What’s more amazing, considering today’s one-and-done mentality in college basketball: That Wright is making himself better in college, instead of jumping into last year’s draft and taking a chance on where he would land.
That’s what Dorell Wright, the Blazers’ forward, wanted to see his little brother do.
“He told me I should come back,” Delon Wright said. “I was telling him I was thinking of leaving and he said to wait, that I was going to have a better year this year. I was fighting it at first but decided to come back.”
Miller said it also might have helped that Krystkowiak is a veteran coach who played nine years in the NBA, a straight shooter who knows both the college and pro levels well.
“He probably looked at (Krystkowiak) and said, ‘If anybody would know, it would be my coach,’” Miller said. “He made an intelligent decision from the perspective that so many guys can get picked and the obvious goal is to have the longest, most productive career you can have.
“Being more physical, playing on a winning team, all those things are going to help make him that much more likely to have a long career. He’s a candidate to have that for sure.”
Another upset in the one-and-done era: That while Wright’s biggest weakness was three-point shooting, he hasn’t forced his shot in an effort to prove to scouts that he can do it this time around. He’s 9 for 30 from three-point range overall but has taken only six three-pointers in four previous Pac-12 games, making one of them.
Instead, he’s among the league leaders in the same categories, though his rebounding has dropped while Poeltl has averaged 7.5 in four Pac-12 games.
Wright is the same guy, only stronger at 6 feet 5 inches and 190 pounds, and more experienced.
“I felt like last year I had more pressure because I was trying to establish myself and now this year I’m just playing my game and I’m not trying to do too much,” said Wright, a juco transfer last season. “Earlier in the season, I was trying to take more threes but (Dorell) told me, ‘You don’t have to prove anything right now. The time will come.’ ”
That kind of approach isn’t seen consistently today in college basketball. Even Miller indicated earlier this week that individual NBA aspirations have been chipping away at the Wildcats’ team chemistry and rhythm, while Utah continues to win games with well-defined, smooth-fitting roles.
“You love the way they play defense and also you really appreciate the way they play offense — they move the ball,” Miller said of the Utes. “They seem to be a very together team especially right now, a very in-sync team. So when you play a team like that you know you have to be at your best.”
Probable starters ARIZONA
- G T.J. McConnell (6-1 Sr.) G Stanley Johnson (6-7 Fr.) F R. Hollis-Jefferson (6-7 So.) F Brandon Ashley (6-9 Jr.) C Kaleb Tarczewski (7-0 Jr.)
UTAH
- G Delon Wright (6-5 Sr.) G Brandon Taylor (5-10 Jr.) F Jordan Loveridge (6-6 Jr.) F Chris Reyes (6-7 So.) C Jakob Poeltl (7-0 Fr.)
HOW THEY MATCH UP
The series: Arizona is tied 28-28 with Utah all time but has beaten the Utes 10 straight times, including seven times in Pac-12 play. Utah overview: Three years of continual roster upgrades have finally paid off for Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak, who has virtually everybody back from last season — including NBA first-round prospect Delon Wright — and bolstered his frontcourt with significant new talent. Austrian freshman Jakob Poeltl is the Utes’ top presence inside, the Pac-12’s fourth-leading rebounder (8.2).
KEY PLAYERS
UTAH Delon Wright A relative secret inside the Pac-12 a year ago, Utah’s do-it-all guard has captured enough national attention this time that he’s actually become something of a player-of-the-year dark horse behind stars such as Jahlil Okafor and Frank Kaminsky so far. ARIZONA Kaleb Tarczewski Since his double-double at Oregon on Jan. 8, Zeus has two rebounds in 48 minutes played. Clearly, that’s not gonna cut it today, not against Jakob Poeltl and Utah’s rugged rebounders, who lead the Pac-12 in rebounding margin over all games played. HE SAID IT “The biggest thing with Utah is they’re a great defensive team. They play man-to-man and they’re unbelievably disciplined. They’re long and have a big front line. They play Loveridge at the three and Wright, to me, is an NBA first-round draft pick, no question. Jakob Poeltl is a great offensive rebounder. He’s not a primary option in the post, but scores off pick-and-rolls and handoffs.” — UA associate head coach Joe Pasternack
SIDELINES
• So who’s really the favorite today? UA coach Sean Miller says it’s Utah, while Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak indicated it’s not — and the Nevada line-makers agree with the Utah coach. The UA opened as a six-point favorite, though Vegas Insider listed UA as a 4½-point favorite as of Friday night. To which Miller could only smile – and talk again about how good Utah is. “Honestly I’m not playing games when I say it — I really watch Utah’s team with great admiration,” Miller said. When speaking with Utah reporters Friday in Tempe, Krystkowiak was asked what he makes of Miller’s assertion that the UA needs an upset to win. “Sean’s a good guy,” he said. “I don’t know the context of what he’s speaking about. They’re the prime team in our league and have a bullseye on their chest.”
• Today’s game could come down to overall talent vs. chemistry, the way Pac-12 Networks analysts Kevin O’Neill and Lamar Hurd described it. And, according to KO, the Cats’ talent will win. “They’re in McKale, they’ve got the best talent, they’ve got the deepest team and they’re committed to defense,” said O’Neill, the ex-UA assistant and interim coach. “Utah is going to play a great game, and they’re gonna lose.” Hurd, was leaning toward Utah: “You’re facing a Utah squad that has similar talent and more togetherness. I think Delon Wright is gonna show up and play an all-American type game.”
NUMBERS GAME
11 Years since UA has hosted a top 10 matchup in Pac-12 play, since Stanford beat Arizona 82-72 on Jan. 10, 2004. Bruce Pascoe
