Arizona Wildcats' skeleton crew survived, thrived during nonconference play
- Updated
Here’s how the fall semester’s lessons were handed to the Wildcats.
- Bruce Pascoe
- Updated
The Arizona Wildcats finished nonconference play at 11-2 and in the Top 25 of every major college basketball metric, but that probably isn’t the best way to judge them.
It’s all about potential. They could become much more than that the rest of the way.
If, that is, their mostly young group of seven active scholarship players learns from its wide variety of experiences already, and if Parker Jackson-Cartwright (high ankle sprain) and Allonzo Trier (NCAA suspension) return soon.
“Part of our challenge isn’t just the quality of who we played, but the circumstances that we played the game under,” UA coach Sean Miller said. “We’ve never had, except for a handful of games, more than seven available scholarship players, so if we could get some good health and some good news moving forward, it would be nice to have our full allotment of players.
“And if that’s the case, I think this team has a big upside. Some of the experiences our younger players have received because of the circumstances will make us a little further along in conference play than we otherwise would have been.”
Arizona took a four-day break from the game this week, but they’ll face an early start to Pac-12 play, facing California in Berkeley on Dec. 30 and Stanford on New Year’s Day.
Miller said you never really know if you're ready for conference play until you get in it, but the wide variety of opponents, venues and tipoff times has exposed Arizona already to nearly a full season’s worth of experiences.
“We’ve learned a lot about our team,” Miller said. “The one piece of mind is that we have played a lot of different styles and teams.”
Here’s how the fall semester’s lessons were handed to the Wildcats:
- Bruce Pascoe
- Updated
Obstacles: Trier’s absence results in two first-time starters and a true freshman sixth man (Kobi Simmons), and the Wildcats fell behind 17-2 early.
What happened: Simmons scored 15 points in 13 first-half minutes to make the game competitive again, and senior Kadeem Allen went coast-to-coast for a game-winning layup.
Final score: UA 65, Michigan State 63
Miller said it: “Kobi Simmons, for a freshman, showed a lot of confidence and a lot of ability. He had 15 of our 34 at halftime and that’s a big reason we got back in the game. He was outstanding. He has a lot of talent. We watch him every day and I think the best is yet to come for him, too.”
- Bruce Pascoe
- Updated
Obstacles: Allen sat out with a knee sprain suffered against Michigan State, while Trier missed his second game and even redshirting guard Dylan Smith was out of practices because he suffered a concussion. Point guard Parker Jackson-Cartwright struggled with foul trouble.
What happened: Somewhat tentative in his first game, freshman forward Lauri Markkanen took advantage of the smaller Roadrunner frontcourt to collect 26 points and eight rebounds, though shorthanded Arizona was outscored by six points in the second half.
Final score: Arizona 78, Bakersfield 66
Miller said it: “We’d have much preferred a bigger lead but there were a lot of situations in the game that we were able to learn from, even Parker, who has never been in the game for that long a period of time under that much pressure. He played 34 minutes with two fouls, he played the last 8-10 with four fouls. That was great experience for him to be able to do that. I thought he did a great job. Some of the plays Lauri made were a function of Parker making the right decision to get him the ball.”
- Bruce Pascoe
- Updated
Obstacles: Allen returned from his sprained knee, but was ineffective and left the game after five minutes. Also, Trier was out, and UA made just 3 of 19 three-pointers.
What happened: The Wildcats found Markkanen more regularly for the first time, and the Finnish forward responded with 22 points on 7 for 12 field goals.
Final score: Arizona 95, Sacred Heart 65
Miller said it: “We have a big mismatch at times and (Markkanen has the) ability to shoot it. That’s not common. It’s up to us to find him. You just can’t play as if he’s a normal big guy out there. There were times he was open and the ball didn’t find him. Then all of a sudden, it did and he went on his own personal 8-0 run (within a 64-second span in the second half). Learning his value on offense and allowing other people to play off him, that’s our responsibility as a coaching staff.”
- Bruce Pascoe
- Updated
Obstacles: The Bears threw out the first fulltime zone Arizona had seen, and had good spacing offensively. Trier was out, leaving eight scholarship players.
What happened: Jackson-Cartwright had 11 assists and one turnover, while Markkanen had 17 points and 13 rebounds.
Final score: Arizona 71, Northern Colorado 55
Miller said it: “Tonight was Parker’s best game at Arizona. Everything he did was important. … And of the 15 points, he got lot against the zone by making some good decisions. It was good to see.”
- Bruce Pascoe
- Updated
Obstacles: Old nemesis Herb Sendek showed up with his new team, and threw out an assortment of zone defenses at the Wildcats, along with scoring whiz Jared Brownridge. Trier did not make the trip to Las Vegas, missing game No. 5.
What happened: The Wildcats made Brownridge arguably work harder for his 25 points (he was 8 for 19 from the field) than the 44 he scored against them last season, while Simmons had 14 points on 5-for-7 shooting and Markkanen had 16 points and nine rebounds.
Final score: Arizona 69, Santa Clara 61
Miller said it: “It was good for (Markkanen) to experience guarding a team like that and on offense playing against a zone for 40 minutes. It took us a while, took him a while, to figure out how he can get a shot.”
- Bruce Pascoe
- Updated
Obstacles: Markkanen played only 21 minutes because of foul trouble, while Trier missed game No. 6.
What happened: Without scorers Markkanen and Trier in the final minutes, the Wildcats blew a 61-57 lead with 3:52 left. Allen jumped in late to foul Butler’s Tyler Woodman, who made a go-ahead three-point play with 29 seconds left.
Final score: Butler 69, Arizona 65
Miller said it: “There was a group of five that were out there playing (at the end) that normally aren’t playing and we had several little just bad offensive possessions in a row. And that hurts your defense because you’re not set. We played with great effort. We did not play with a lot of poise or intelligence down the stretch.”
- Bruce Pascoe
- Updated
Obstacles: Jackson-Cartwright suffered a high-ankle sprain in the first half, keeping him out at least four weeks, reducing Arizona to seven active scholarship players while Trier remained out.
What happened: Arizona kept Texas Southern to just 39 percent shooting while making 63 percent itself. Five UA players scored in double figures, led by Markkanen, who had 19 points with 7-for-9 shooting.
Final score: Arizona 85, Texas Southern 63
Miller said it: Markkanen is “about as good an offensive player as I have seen. He takes care of the ball as well. … Our team is starting to learn his value when to find him.”
- Bruce Pascoe
- Updated
Obstacles: Without Jackson-Cartwright for a tipoff for the first time all season, the Wildcats sputtered to a 17-5 deficit. Trier made the trip, having been cleared by the NCAA to travel, but did not play.
What happened: The Wildcats never really recovered from the early deficit, while the absences forced more UA players out of position.
Final score: Gonzaga 69, Arizona 62
Miller said it: Jackson-Cartwright’s absence “really affects everything and everybody. Our zone offense, our underneath out of bounds offense. Defensively it really affects you.”
- Bruce Pascoe
- Updated
Obstacles: The Anteaters went with a 2-3 zone the entire game, while Arizona continued to be without Jackson-Cartwright and Trier.
What happened: Europeans Dusan Ristic and Markkanen each scored 18 points while the Wildcats punctured the zone inside and out, while flashing a bit of their own zone defense. Walk-on guard Tyler Trillo also played 13 turnover-free minutes.
Final score: Arizona 79, UC Irvine 57
Miller said it: “We’re going to see a lot of zone right now because teams are checking how organized we are, and our ability to shoot. But we’re only going to get better every day that we’re together because in a way our team has only practiced for a week. We don't have the same team as we had two weeks ago.”
- Bruce Pascoe
- Updated
Obstacles: Up for breakfast at 6:30 a.m. Arizona time, the Wildcats received a rude awakening with almost team-wide foul trouble throughout their short roster. Markkanen fouled out after 21 minutes while four other players had four fouls each.
What happened: Markkanen scored in single digits for the only time all season, but the Wildcats hit 13 of 24 three-pointers and held the Tigers to just 32.7 percent shooting.
Final score: Arizona 79, Missouri 60
Miller said it: “They really mixed their defenses … 1-3-1 zone. … 3-2 zone. Man to man. Press dropping to zone. I think the thing they wanted us to do is dare us to take some 3s and test us. We passed the test.”
- Bruce Pascoe
- Updated
Obstacles: On a late-night tipoff, the Wildcats couldn’t rest against a hard-charging Division I upstart and star guard DeWayne Russell, the nation’s second-leading scorer.
What happened: Grand Canyon cut it to just four midway through the second half before the Wildcats stopped the Lopes on four straight possessions and took back control of the game. Rawle Alkins, 4-7 from 3-point territory at Missouri, was 0 for 5 from long range.
Final score: Arizona 64, Grand Canyon 54
Miller said it: “Part of why (Alkins) shot five 3s was he felt really good about his 3-point shot from last game. But he didn’t let that bother him. He had eight rebounds, and he scored four two-point shots. When the game really got tough he really got tough. He’s from Brooklyn; he’s seen that before. That’s who he is.”
- Bruce Pascoe
- Updated
Obstacles: The Wildcats traveled halfway across the country and played at 10 a.m. Arizona time for the second straight Saturday, and they appeared to tire in the final minutes, without Trier and Jackson-Cartwright again.
What happened: Arizona led leads of up to 22 points to just two before Markkanen passed out of a trap to Alkins, who converted both ends of a one-and-one with 15 seconds left to clinch it.
Final score: Arizona 67, Texas A&M 63
Miller said it: “Lauri handled himself really well on a great pass to Rawle (being) a freshman in that situation, with so many things going wrong, and (for Alkins to hit) the one-and-one? Those are two big free throws he made to seal the win. So, again, we’re so much about some of those young players doing a great job.”
- Bruce Pascoe
- Updated
Obstacles: After a long fall semester, the Wildcats faced a letdown situation heading into a four-day pre-Christmas break.
What happened: Arizona scored the first 12 points of the game and was never challenged by its historical rival to the east.
Final score: Arizona 77, New Mexico 46
Miller said it: “I like the fact that we’re 11-2. I guess we could be 13-0 or 12-1, but I think considering the circumstances, all of us feel like it’s been a job well done for our group. Now it really comes down to how much we can improve and how much better we can become during the next stretch, which is the Pac-12.”
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- Bruce Pascoe
The Arizona Wildcats finished nonconference play at 11-2 and in the Top 25 of every major college basketball metric, but that probably isn’t the best way to judge them.
It’s all about potential. They could become much more than that the rest of the way.
If, that is, their mostly young group of seven active scholarship players learns from its wide variety of experiences already, and if Parker Jackson-Cartwright (high ankle sprain) and Allonzo Trier (NCAA suspension) return soon.
“Part of our challenge isn’t just the quality of who we played, but the circumstances that we played the game under,” UA coach Sean Miller said. “We’ve never had, except for a handful of games, more than seven available scholarship players, so if we could get some good health and some good news moving forward, it would be nice to have our full allotment of players.
“And if that’s the case, I think this team has a big upside. Some of the experiences our younger players have received because of the circumstances will make us a little further along in conference play than we otherwise would have been.”
Arizona took a four-day break from the game this week, but they’ll face an early start to Pac-12 play, facing California in Berkeley on Dec. 30 and Stanford on New Year’s Day.
Miller said you never really know if you're ready for conference play until you get in it, but the wide variety of opponents, venues and tipoff times has exposed Arizona already to nearly a full season’s worth of experiences.
“We’ve learned a lot about our team,” Miller said. “The one piece of mind is that we have played a lot of different styles and teams.”
Here’s how the fall semester’s lessons were handed to the Wildcats:
- Bruce Pascoe
Obstacles: Trier’s absence results in two first-time starters and a true freshman sixth man (Kobi Simmons), and the Wildcats fell behind 17-2 early.
What happened: Simmons scored 15 points in 13 first-half minutes to make the game competitive again, and senior Kadeem Allen went coast-to-coast for a game-winning layup.
Final score: UA 65, Michigan State 63
Miller said it: “Kobi Simmons, for a freshman, showed a lot of confidence and a lot of ability. He had 15 of our 34 at halftime and that’s a big reason we got back in the game. He was outstanding. He has a lot of talent. We watch him every day and I think the best is yet to come for him, too.”
- Bruce Pascoe
Obstacles: Allen sat out with a knee sprain suffered against Michigan State, while Trier missed his second game and even redshirting guard Dylan Smith was out of practices because he suffered a concussion. Point guard Parker Jackson-Cartwright struggled with foul trouble.
What happened: Somewhat tentative in his first game, freshman forward Lauri Markkanen took advantage of the smaller Roadrunner frontcourt to collect 26 points and eight rebounds, though shorthanded Arizona was outscored by six points in the second half.
Final score: Arizona 78, Bakersfield 66
Miller said it: “We’d have much preferred a bigger lead but there were a lot of situations in the game that we were able to learn from, even Parker, who has never been in the game for that long a period of time under that much pressure. He played 34 minutes with two fouls, he played the last 8-10 with four fouls. That was great experience for him to be able to do that. I thought he did a great job. Some of the plays Lauri made were a function of Parker making the right decision to get him the ball.”
- Bruce Pascoe
Obstacles: Allen returned from his sprained knee, but was ineffective and left the game after five minutes. Also, Trier was out, and UA made just 3 of 19 three-pointers.
What happened: The Wildcats found Markkanen more regularly for the first time, and the Finnish forward responded with 22 points on 7 for 12 field goals.
Final score: Arizona 95, Sacred Heart 65
Miller said it: “We have a big mismatch at times and (Markkanen has the) ability to shoot it. That’s not common. It’s up to us to find him. You just can’t play as if he’s a normal big guy out there. There were times he was open and the ball didn’t find him. Then all of a sudden, it did and he went on his own personal 8-0 run (within a 64-second span in the second half). Learning his value on offense and allowing other people to play off him, that’s our responsibility as a coaching staff.”
- Bruce Pascoe
Obstacles: The Bears threw out the first fulltime zone Arizona had seen, and had good spacing offensively. Trier was out, leaving eight scholarship players.
What happened: Jackson-Cartwright had 11 assists and one turnover, while Markkanen had 17 points and 13 rebounds.
Final score: Arizona 71, Northern Colorado 55
Miller said it: “Tonight was Parker’s best game at Arizona. Everything he did was important. … And of the 15 points, he got lot against the zone by making some good decisions. It was good to see.”
- Bruce Pascoe
Obstacles: Old nemesis Herb Sendek showed up with his new team, and threw out an assortment of zone defenses at the Wildcats, along with scoring whiz Jared Brownridge. Trier did not make the trip to Las Vegas, missing game No. 5.
What happened: The Wildcats made Brownridge arguably work harder for his 25 points (he was 8 for 19 from the field) than the 44 he scored against them last season, while Simmons had 14 points on 5-for-7 shooting and Markkanen had 16 points and nine rebounds.
Final score: Arizona 69, Santa Clara 61
Miller said it: “It was good for (Markkanen) to experience guarding a team like that and on offense playing against a zone for 40 minutes. It took us a while, took him a while, to figure out how he can get a shot.”
- Bruce Pascoe
Obstacles: Markkanen played only 21 minutes because of foul trouble, while Trier missed game No. 6.
What happened: Without scorers Markkanen and Trier in the final minutes, the Wildcats blew a 61-57 lead with 3:52 left. Allen jumped in late to foul Butler’s Tyler Woodman, who made a go-ahead three-point play with 29 seconds left.
Final score: Butler 69, Arizona 65
Miller said it: “There was a group of five that were out there playing (at the end) that normally aren’t playing and we had several little just bad offensive possessions in a row. And that hurts your defense because you’re not set. We played with great effort. We did not play with a lot of poise or intelligence down the stretch.”
- Bruce Pascoe
Obstacles: Jackson-Cartwright suffered a high-ankle sprain in the first half, keeping him out at least four weeks, reducing Arizona to seven active scholarship players while Trier remained out.
What happened: Arizona kept Texas Southern to just 39 percent shooting while making 63 percent itself. Five UA players scored in double figures, led by Markkanen, who had 19 points with 7-for-9 shooting.
Final score: Arizona 85, Texas Southern 63
Miller said it: Markkanen is “about as good an offensive player as I have seen. He takes care of the ball as well. … Our team is starting to learn his value when to find him.”
- Bruce Pascoe
Obstacles: Without Jackson-Cartwright for a tipoff for the first time all season, the Wildcats sputtered to a 17-5 deficit. Trier made the trip, having been cleared by the NCAA to travel, but did not play.
What happened: The Wildcats never really recovered from the early deficit, while the absences forced more UA players out of position.
Final score: Gonzaga 69, Arizona 62
Miller said it: Jackson-Cartwright’s absence “really affects everything and everybody. Our zone offense, our underneath out of bounds offense. Defensively it really affects you.”
- Bruce Pascoe
Obstacles: The Anteaters went with a 2-3 zone the entire game, while Arizona continued to be without Jackson-Cartwright and Trier.
What happened: Europeans Dusan Ristic and Markkanen each scored 18 points while the Wildcats punctured the zone inside and out, while flashing a bit of their own zone defense. Walk-on guard Tyler Trillo also played 13 turnover-free minutes.
Final score: Arizona 79, UC Irvine 57
Miller said it: “We’re going to see a lot of zone right now because teams are checking how organized we are, and our ability to shoot. But we’re only going to get better every day that we’re together because in a way our team has only practiced for a week. We don't have the same team as we had two weeks ago.”
- Bruce Pascoe
Obstacles: Up for breakfast at 6:30 a.m. Arizona time, the Wildcats received a rude awakening with almost team-wide foul trouble throughout their short roster. Markkanen fouled out after 21 minutes while four other players had four fouls each.
What happened: Markkanen scored in single digits for the only time all season, but the Wildcats hit 13 of 24 three-pointers and held the Tigers to just 32.7 percent shooting.
Final score: Arizona 79, Missouri 60
Miller said it: “They really mixed their defenses … 1-3-1 zone. … 3-2 zone. Man to man. Press dropping to zone. I think the thing they wanted us to do is dare us to take some 3s and test us. We passed the test.”
- Bruce Pascoe
Obstacles: On a late-night tipoff, the Wildcats couldn’t rest against a hard-charging Division I upstart and star guard DeWayne Russell, the nation’s second-leading scorer.
What happened: Grand Canyon cut it to just four midway through the second half before the Wildcats stopped the Lopes on four straight possessions and took back control of the game. Rawle Alkins, 4-7 from 3-point territory at Missouri, was 0 for 5 from long range.
Final score: Arizona 64, Grand Canyon 54
Miller said it: “Part of why (Alkins) shot five 3s was he felt really good about his 3-point shot from last game. But he didn’t let that bother him. He had eight rebounds, and he scored four two-point shots. When the game really got tough he really got tough. He’s from Brooklyn; he’s seen that before. That’s who he is.”
- Bruce Pascoe
Obstacles: The Wildcats traveled halfway across the country and played at 10 a.m. Arizona time for the second straight Saturday, and they appeared to tire in the final minutes, without Trier and Jackson-Cartwright again.
What happened: Arizona led leads of up to 22 points to just two before Markkanen passed out of a trap to Alkins, who converted both ends of a one-and-one with 15 seconds left to clinch it.
Final score: Arizona 67, Texas A&M 63
Miller said it: “Lauri handled himself really well on a great pass to Rawle (being) a freshman in that situation, with so many things going wrong, and (for Alkins to hit) the one-and-one? Those are two big free throws he made to seal the win. So, again, we’re so much about some of those young players doing a great job.”
- Bruce Pascoe
Obstacles: After a long fall semester, the Wildcats faced a letdown situation heading into a four-day pre-Christmas break.
What happened: Arizona scored the first 12 points of the game and was never challenged by its historical rival to the east.
Final score: Arizona 77, New Mexico 46
Miller said it: “I like the fact that we’re 11-2. I guess we could be 13-0 or 12-1, but I think considering the circumstances, all of us feel like it’s been a job well done for our group. Now it really comes down to how much we can improve and how much better we can become during the next stretch, which is the Pac-12.”
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