All that prodding University of Arizona coach Sean Miller did to get T.J. McConnell to shoot more finally worked.
As he enters the No. 3 Wildcats’ home game tonight against Oakland, the senior point guard is taking the third-most shots of all UA players.
It’s just that they aren’t going in enough to make either Miller or McConnell happy.
Especially lately. McConnell has made just 2 of 9 three-pointers over the Wildcats’ past four games. and he was just 2 of 7 over the three games of the Maui Invitational before that.
For the season, McConnell is shooting 28.0 percent from three-point range and 37.0 percent overall.
“I think I’m leading the team well, and doing what I need to do defensively, but as everyone knows I’m struggling shooting the ball,” McConnell said Monday. “Everybody goes through slumps and it’s just about shooting your way out of it. I’m going to be fine. I’m not really worried about that.”
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Miller indicated he isn’t panicking, either.
After all, McConnell is excelling in the metric Miller prizes the most from his point guards — a 2.85-1 assist-turnover ratio — and he’s leading the Pac-12 in steals with 2.4 a game. Not to mention all the intangible assets he’s offering.
“He’s our team’s heart and soul,” Miller said. “Especially defensively, it’s not just what he does on the ball and it’s the number of great plays, important plays, that he’s made off the ball — big steals, hustle plays, being in the right place at the right time. He’s one of the many tone-setters on our team where other guys follow his lead and his intensity.
“From an offensive perspective, he’s done a lot of good things. What he hasn’t done to this point is shoot the ball as well as we would have expected from three.”
Miller said he and his staff have continued to tell McConnell that having him take a good shot is a good shot for the team — because they can force defenses to pay less attention to UA’s other big threats — and Miller figures the shot will come around at some point, anyway.
“You can’t make too big of a deal out of it, as long as he’s putting in the extra work,” Miller said. “And that started back last spring and during the summer — he shot hundreds and hundreds of shots. He can shoot the ball. It’s a matter of him taking good ones and not worrying about the misses. The odds go into your favor if you’re that kind of shooter.”
McConnell said he has continued to take extra shots before and after practice.
“I’d be lying if I said it doesn’t bother me at all,” McConnell said. “But ... when they’re not falling, there’s really not much you can do about it but keep shooting. That’s been my approach pretty much the whole time.”
Grizzly gauntlet
For a two-week span this month, Oakland coach Greg Kampe lined up road games at Michigan State, Arizona, Pittsburgh, Clemson and Maryland.
That might suggest one of two things.
One, that Kampe is nuts. Or, two, that his school must really need all that guaranteed appearance money.
Neither appears to be true.
Kampe’s decades-long track record at the Michigan school suggests playing what are annually some of the nation’s toughest nonconference schedules only helps: Under Kampe, Oakland has won 61.4 percent of its conference games, reached three NCAA tournaments, won six regular-season or tournament titles in the Summit League and was instantly competitive upon moving to the tougher Horizon League last season.
“These games are a learning experience for us,” Kampe said. “It’s good for the players. They get to play in McKale Center, the Breslin Center. It’s way better than playing Immaculate Conception, where you win by 30 and learn nothing.”
Plus, Kampe insists the Grizzlies really don’t play for the money, even as UA is paying Oakland an appearance fee of $95,000 (and that’s industry standard for high-major home games, suggesting the Grizzlies’ total nonconference haul is over a half-million).
“We have a new AD, and he doesn’t want me to do it,” Kampe said. “They’re appreciative that we bring in that much money, but that’s not why we do it. We try to run a mid-major program that is well-respected and plays the best. It gets you on TV and helps with recruiting. What we sell to them is the schedule.”
Miller, for one, says he respects the Grizzlies, having also invited them in during the 2011-12 season (an 85-73 UA win).
“You always know you’re going to get a quality team and a team that’s going to be really well-coached, especially on offense,” Miller said. “They have the ability to make threes or throw it inside to (center) Corey Petros … it’s one of the many things that will continue to develop us and make us better, because if you don’t answer the bell against a player like him he can have a big night.”
Closing out
Even with only two full days between facing Michigan and Oakland, Miller gave the Wildcats one of them off.
From basketball, at least.
“We gave our guys off (Sunday) completely, and hopefully, they were able to invest some time academically and kind of recharge their battery for a big week,” Miller said.
The big week being not only tonight’s game and UA’s first true road game of the season — at UTEP on Friday — but also the final exams and papers that are hanging over many of the Wildcats this week as UA’s fall semester ends.
“Our players are juggling a lot of different things academically,” Miller said. “Some of our guys have finished, some are finishing up and several have more to come this week. You know how it is when you’re going through final exams and papers — it can be draining.”
It’s the last time McConnell will endure a full semester – as a fifth-year senior who is already near graduation, he said his spring semester load will be lighter — and you get the feeling he won’t miss it.
“I think it would be pretty stressful for anyone with writing papers and studying for finals,” McConnell said, “but just add basketball to that and I don’t think very many people imagine what it’s like.”
UA freshman Craig Victor said he’s been rolling along with it all thanks to the program’s academic support system.
“It’s all new to me being in college,” Victor said. “Finals week, it’s a major deal so trying to put that in with basketball is kind of hard, but we have the people around us to make sure we’re fine. So it’s no big stress on me.”
Pac-12 honors Wright
The Pac-12 named Utah’s Delon Wright the conference’s Player of the Week after he averaged 20.5 points and 8.0 rebounds during the Utes’ win over BYU and loss to Kansas last week. Arizona had nominated Stanley Johnson for the honor, after Johnson averaged 15.5 points and 7.0 rebounds in the Wildcats’ wins over Utah Valley and Michigan.
