UA's "rocky start" going smoother than expected
So much for that "rocky start" that Arizona coach Sean Miller warned everybody about.
While the Wildcats failed to go undefeated for a third straight nonconference season when they lost 71-67 at UNLV on Tuesday, they managed to win all 12 other games during a challenging early season that included two true road games, a Top 10 showdown with Gonzaga and a trip to the prestigious Maui Invitational.
They had slow starts, couldn't hit free throws very well and still might need a go-to closer, among other issues, but their 12-1 start was far from the meltdown Miller feared in the preseason, when he was lamenting the defensive and chemistry losses from the decisions of Nick Johnson and Aaron Gordon to turn pro early.
"For us, realistically, we're not that good of a team right now," Miller said on Nov. 6. "We're nowhere near where we would have been a year ago at this time. And I can see us getting off to a rocky start in the month of November especially with Maui and a couple of games that we have and ditto for December.
Well, turned out November and December weren't all that bad for the Wildcats.. Here was Miller on Monday, just before the UNLV game:
"It's not easy to win every game," he said. "I believe we've made improvements across the board. We're a better overall defensive team. The quality of our bench continues to grow. And on offense, other than (17) turnovers (at UTEP), you can point to a lot of improvement."
So how did the Wildcats get there? Here's a look at some telling moments during the nonconference stretch of UA's season:
The recovery
Brandon Ashley was cleared to play fully in late August, after suffering a significant foot injury last Feb. 1, but it wasn't known until games began how quickly the junior forward be back, both physically and mentally.
Almost right away, Ashley resumed the kind of versatile, almost stretch-four role he began to grow into last season before his injury, being the Wildcats' second-best three-point shooter by percentage, their second-leading scorer and third-leading rebounder.
Among other highlights, Ashley hit two 17-footers late in regulation to help UA go on and beat Gonzaga in overtime on Dec. 6.
"I think Brandon is unguardable," guard T.J. McConnell said after the Gonzaga game. "That just makes our lives easier as perimeter players ,and he kind of proved that (against Gonzaga). They put a big guy on him, we ran off-ball screens, and he was hitting jumpers."
The sacrifice
Since the beginning of the preseason, Miller spoke as if he had six starters – with Gabe York, Stanley Johnson and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson all cramming into the two wing positions.
Johnson was loaded with scoring potential, so it wasn't easy to take him out of the lineup, while Miller also needed York in the lineup because of his defense-stretching shooting ability. Then there was Hollis-Jefferson, who already toiled as a sixth-man last season but came back to UA in part to become a Top 10 NBA draft pick — presumably in a more featured role.
It was a dilemma that threatened team chemistry and rhythm. But it never morphed into a problem, because Hollis-Jefferson agreed to play a sixth-man role again after UA's first two games.
"Everybody likes to start," Miller said. "Sacrifice is a big deal in sports and Rondae is a very unselfish kid. I don't think not starting necessarily takes away from how well he's playing or how good a player he is."
The schedule strategy
Miller and UA operations director Ryan Reynolds put together a schedule that tested the Wildcats in a variety of settings and against a variety of styles. In UA's first three games alone, the Wildcats faced the fullcourt press of Mount St. Mary's, the versatile veteran forwards of CSUN and a 7-foot-6 giant in UC Irvine's Mamadou Ndiaye.
From there, UA transitioned into the Maui Invitational, then alternated big home games against Gonzaga and Michigan with low- or mid-major tests in between. They didn't have to play a single road game until after the fall semester was over, splitting their trips to hostile territory at UTEP (a 60-55 win) and UNLV (a 71-67 loss).
The meeting
Shortly before the Wildcats went to the Maui Invitational, Miller and Johnson sat down for a little talk.
Johnson's obvious talent had helped the Wildcats win early games but was still not fully meshed into Miller's system, and Miller indicated he wasn't quite getting the day-to-day work ethic he wanted to go along with all that talent.
"He didn't know how hard college basketball was," Miller said in Maui. "None of these guys do. But to his credit, like I said over the last four to six weeks, he's really, really turned that part around."
Johnson went on to win the Maui Invitational's MVP award and has led the Wildcats in scoring in five of seven games since then.
"He's just telling me to get better every day, even if it's a little bit," Johnson said in Maui. "I've been feeling that part of it ever since that meeting."
The spotlight
When Arizona and Gonzaga met on Dec. 6 at McKale Center, it was a showdown of Top 10 teams that didn't disappoint.
The Wildcats put the brakes on the Zags' high-flying offense, holding them to just 39.7-percent shooting and 63 points, kept gunner Kevin Pangos to just 3-of-10 shooting and held on in overtime when McConnell scored six points and Gonzaga grad transfer Byron Wesley uncharacteristically airballed the first of three free throws with 3.3 seconds left in front of a rowdy McKale Center crowd.
"When I saw the airball, to be honest I was in shock," McConnell said. "Credit to our fans. We have the best fans in the country and they just proved why."
The lesson
Miller prefers to schedule two true road tests during the nonconference season to prepare the Wildcats for the long Pac-12 trips ahead, where capacity crowds will often be waiting to root against them.
They received exactly that. Last Friday, Arizona outlasted UTEP 60-55 before one of the loudest sellout crowds that the Don Haskins Center has hosted in years. Then they struggled defensively and missed key shots at the end in the loss to UNLV.
The trips exposed both flaws in UA's offense (against UTEP) and defense (against UNLV), giving the Wildcats plenty to work on when they return to practice on Sunday to begin preparing for the Pac-12 season.
"It kind of opens everybody's eyes that we're not undefeated," Ashley said. "We're not one of those teams that's untouchable. So when we come back we're definitely going to be a lot more focused.