PULLMAN, Wash. - After his team put up its worst two-game weekend of the season, Arizona coach Sean Miller said he wouldn't alter his approach.
It's his players, particularly his starters, who need to shake things up a bit.
Or he will for them.
"We're not going to change what we do but there's some guys who are going to have to earn it," Miller said. "We could juggle the lineup or we could not. The next four or five days will be the telltale sign of that."
Although forward Kevin Parrom's contributions aren't fully visible in box scores, every starter except guard Kyle Fogg fell below their conference-game average in some key categories over the weekend.
In addition, the Wildcats' two most experienced players, guard Nic Wise and forward Jamelle Horne, had particularly troublesome skids. Coming off a 30-point performance against California on Jan. 31 that earned him the Pac-10's player of the week award, Wise shot just 31.8 percent from the field and had eight turnovers to his three assists in the two games.
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Horne, meanwhile, has scored in double figures only once since his season-best performance against Washington at McKale Center on Jan. 10. He also had just two rebounds in each game over the weekend.
The starters' troubles were compensated nearly enough on Thursday at Washington, with MoMo Jones putting up a career-high 14 points and Solomon Hill adding 12 in UA's 81-75 loss. Collectively, UA reserves scored 40 points, or 53 percent of the team's scoring output in Seattle.
"I was out and people stepped up big time," said Williams, who played just eight minutes because of foul trouble at Washington.
But although Hill had five points and four rebounds Saturday, possibly putting him in a position to challenge for his old starting job back, the reserves weren't of much help overall. Jones was 0 for 6 from the field and the bench totaled only nine points.
Miller said part of the difference Saturday could have been that the Wildcats were drained physically and emotionally after their six-point loss at Washington on Thursday.
"Washington was really a hard-fought game," he said. "I was very proud of our team. Our five starters in that game probably couldn't have played any worse but a number of guys off the bench really stepped up and did a great job.
"Watching the film you'll have a better perspective, and (it showed) we didn't lose to Washington for a lack of effort. Then we came down here and, to me, they were just so much more physical in and around the basket."
The proof can be found in the fact that WSU took 28 free throws while UA went to the line just 13 times.
"The free throw differential was really the story line of the game," Miller said, "and they earned their trip to the foul line."
Another possible factor that hurt UA over the weekend: The team's five freshmen were treated to their first Friday in Washington, getting only five to six hours of sleep on Thursday night before a five-hour travel transition from Seattle to Pullman.
"It was a learning experience for all of us," Williams said. "There were a lot of bus rides, planes and stuff like that but we can't blame it on that. We've just got to come out to play."
Miller noted the unusually high number of games away from home so far for the Wildcats, who have now played nine true road games and the three neutral-site games at the Maui Invitational. Arizona also has the No. 1 strength of schedule, according to kenpom.com, and the No. 2 rated schedule in the Sagarin ratings.
The good news for the Wildcats is that there's only one regular-season trip remaining and it's a pretty easy one logistically, at California on Feb. 25 and Stanford on Feb. 27.
Arizona will instead play five of its final seven regular-season games at McKale Center, giving the Wildcats a chance to climb back into league and postseason play if they can take advantage.
"We have to," Wise said. "We let two slip away this weekend. We have five home games so we're going to have to do a better job of protecting our home court."
BLUE IN EVERGREEN STATE
Key statistics dropped nearly across the board for Arizona starters during the Wildcats' two losses in Washington:
FG% PPG RPG
Nic Wise, point guard
Washington trip 31.8 11.0 2.0
First nine Pac-10 games 37.6 15.4 3.7
Kyle Fogg, shooting guard
Washington trip 44.4 13.0 3.5
First nine Pac-10 games 44.8 15.1 3.3
Kevin Parrom, small forward
Washington trip 21.4 4.5 3.5
First nine Pac-10 games 30.8 4.1 4.3
Jamelle Horne, power forward
Washington trip 57.1 5.0 2.0
First nine Pac-10 games 47.9 10.9 4.1
Derrick Williams, center
Washington trip 50.0 9.5 4.5
First nine Pac-10 games 59.3 17.1 8.6
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• What: Oregon at Arizona
• When: 8:30 p.m., Thursday
• TV: FSAZ
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