Zeke Nnaji, Max Hazzard lead hot-shooting Wildcats to 93-77 win over Utah in McKale Center

Having lost five of their previous seven games, Arizona went home to McKale Center on Thursday, changed its starting lineup and found the sort of Max Hazzard they had long been expecting.

All that helped translate into Arizona’s 93-77 win over Utah, moving the Wildcats to 12-5 overall and 2-2 in the Pac-12 heading into a showdown Saturday against Colorado at McKale Center.

Having been mostly just a limited factor over the past month, Hazzard on Thursday set season-highs in points (24) and 3-pointers made (6 for 10), becoming the kind of 3-point threat he was expected to be since arriving as a grad transfer from UC Irvine last season. Forward Zeke Nnaji matched Hazzard's 24 points while adding eight rebounds.

Max Hazzard (24 points) says he “felt like myself” tonight after shooting 6-10 from 3 against Utah. He also gave a shoutout to his brother and former Wildcat @JacobHazzard. pic.twitter.com/Mk56iAo4In

— The Wildcaster (@TheWildcaster) January 17, 2020

Hazzard had averaged just 2.75 points over his previous four games while averaging 13.8 minutes total but UA coach Sean Miller still spoke highly of his game last week.

“He’s a game-changer,” Miller said.

Meanwhile, UA went with Stone Gettings over Chase Jeter in the starting lineup. Arizona said Jeter was “day-to-day” after suffering back spasms, though Miller has indicated over the past week he was considering a lineup change.

Miller benched Jeter for the final 18 minutes of UA’s loss at Oregon on Jan. 9, and Jeter had just one rebound each against Oregon and Oregon State last weekend.

Jeter was present for pregame warmups but did not sit on the UA team bench during the game, although new Georgetown transfer James Akinjo did, having joined the team for the spring semester. Akinjo will be eligible to play next season, either in December or (if he files a successful waiver) at the start of the season.

Arizona shot 47.8% overall from the field and hit 15 of 29 3-pointers while outrebounding Utah 38-32. The Utes shot 43.9% and hit 10 of 28 3-pointers after making just 2 of 11 3s in the first half.

Hazzard’s 24 points pushed him to and beyond the 1,000-point mark for his college career, to 1,016 total. He scored 920 at UC Irvine and had 72 at Arizona through the Wildcats' first 16 games, putting him eight points shy of the milestone entering Thursday's game.

Leading 52-28 at halftime and by up to 27 early in the first half, the Wildcats experienced their biggest hiccup of the second half when they started having too much fun.

That is, reserve forward Ira Lee picked up a technical foul – and a temporary benching from Miller – after staring down Utah’s Mikael Jantunen after dunking midway through the second half.

The technical became a five-point play for Utah’s Rylan Jones, who converted both technical free throws and then hit a 3-pointer after the Utes inbounded.

That cut UA’s lead to 65-48 but the Wildcats gradually rebuild the lead, taking a 78-56 edge when Gettings hit a 3-pointer from the right wing with 6:30 left. Then, after Mannion and Hazzard hit 3s on back-to-back UA possessions, the Wildcats went ahead 87-60 with 3:29 left.

Alfonso Plummer had six points in the final 65 seconds to help Utah cut the Wildcats’ final margin to 16.

With Gettings in the lineup Thursday to start the game and Arizona playing inspired defense early, the Wildcats took an 8-6 lead at the first media timeout despite having point guard Nico Mannion miss his first three shots.

Hazzard entered at that point and made a quick impact, hitting two 3-pointers and a turnaround jumper along the baseline to help UA take a 22-11 lead with 11:41 left in the first half.

By the time Hazzard hit his fourth 3 of the game, UA had taken a 48-24 lead with 2:37 left in the first half while going on a 12-2 run.

While Gettings took Jeter’s place in the starting lineup, he played power forward while Zeke Nnaji moved from power forward to center.

It was the sort of different look inside that Miller had been considering, with Nnaji being an efficient scorer and rebounder inside and Gettings having the ability to stretch defenses with his 3-point shooting and crafty offense.

Asked about the possibility last Saturday, before the Wildcats lost at Oregon State, Miller told the Star then that he wasn't ready to make a move yet but then spoke without prompting about Gettings.

"That doesn't mean that that (changing starters) may not be in our best interest moving forward but right now I think we have a pretty solid rotation," Miller said Saturday, then immediately added: "You know, I really like Stone Getting's his play for us.

"He's the one outlier because he missed so much time and having him with us is especially as his role increases that gives us, I think a different look, gives us more firepower."

Asked again about changing the lineup Wednesday, Miller said “I think so,” but on a follow-up question ,said “I don’t think we’re there.”

“There is a possibility,” Miller said. “And it’s a possibility all the time. You want to keep everybody ready to go. There isn't a big difference between some of the guys who don't start the game and maybe a few that do. We try to give the starting nod to those that deserve it, to give us the best chance, and you know sometimes it's a matter of circumstances.

"You could have a frontcourt player who might be your overall, sixth, or fifth best player, maybe fourth, but you can't start three big guys. So we're always looking at it. The other thing is we've played 10 players and usually when you play a deep bench like that, you want to ... sustain great effort.”

Miller made no mention of Jeter having back spasms after the Oregon games nor during his pregame news conference on Wednesday. UA said Jeter's status is "day-to-day."

Since returning Jan. 4 from a concussion and facial fracture he suffered on Nov. 29, Gettings has averaged 3.3 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.0 assists over three games.

On Thursday, Gettings finished with seven points and two rebounds in 28 minutes played.