Arizona Basketball: Bay Area Sweep Puts Cats Back in Pac-12 Race
Sean Miller‘s Arizona Wildcats are learning how to win games in lots of different ways this season.
They have created victories with their three-point shooting. They have produced W’s by dribble penetration.
But when the Cats went to NorCal this past week, they used suffocating defense that limited both of their opponents to miserable shooting stats.
On Thursday, Cal shot 1-for-8 from beyond the arc (12.5 percent).
On Saturday, Stanford shot 16-for-63 (25.4 percent) from the field, including 3-for-12 from three-point range (25 percent).
The result gave U of A their first weekend sweep of the season and helped the Wildcats jump back into the Pac-12 race.
This week, Arizona plays Colorado and Utah.
The Thursday game against the Buffs gives the Cats an opportunity to avenge a frustrating defeat three weeks ago.
If the Cats can go 2-0 this coming week, they will move up a little more in the conference standings.
That will set up a very pivotal Washington weekend, where the Cats will face WSU and UDub for what could be a chance to move into the league lead before closing out the regular season on the road against Arizona State.
It is critical that the Cats keep winning because, currently, their RPI, as reported on CBSSports.com, will not help them come Selection Sunday.
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Arizona assistant denies deliberate kick (AP)
Arizona assistant coach Joe Pasternack says he didn’t deliberately make contact with California’s Jorge Gutierrez after he fell into the Wildcats’ bench during Thursday night’s game. Gutierrez yelled at Pasternack, a former Cal assistant, after falling into the bench chasing a loose ball in Arizona’s 78-74 win.
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Pac-12 Basketball Roundup: What’s Wrong with Arizona, UCLA and Washington?
Why are the Arizona Wildcats, UCLA Bruins and Washington Huskies struggling in the watered down Pac-12?
Have you ever been on one of those rollercoaster’s that goes up, down, side to side and then takes you upside down for a while—until you finally freak out and realize you’re going in too many directions and that there’s no clear cut way?
Yeah, that’s what the Pac-12 basketball conference is like this year.
As a former player when the conference was the Pac-10, it was safe to say we were getting at least five teams in the NCAA tournament every year. We can certainly kiss that goodbye.
A conference that was once dubbed as a “super six conference”, along with the likes of the Big East and the ACC—it is now more of a: “Boy, I wonder what team will show up this week” conference.
People call me crazy of course, but I can’t help but think that traditional basketball powerhouses such as: UCLA and Arizona could be left out of the NCAA Tournament for the second time in three years.
Sure, Arizona had a mulligan year during the 2009-10 season when current Coach Sean Miller brought stability back to the program by taking over the reins for Hall of Fame Coach Lute Olson (which was understandable seeing as how Miller had to implement a new system). He also brought in new recruits and has weeded out the troubled players that had plagued the program during Olson’s final days.
Arizona wowed us last season by making a surprise run to the Elite Eight by piling on the shoulders of Derrick Williams (now with the Minnesota Timberwolves). Expectations were once again set high heading into the 2011-12 basketball season in Tucson.
The way it’s looking, Arizona will most likely receive an NIT bid and play the likes of Maryland or some other team that won’t deserve to be in the NCAA tournament either. The Wildcats lost to the Washington Huskies Saturday in Tucson on a last-second block—only this time it was the Huskies that won the game on the blocked shot.
Their guard play has been struggling as of late. The Wildcats lack a true center and don’t have a go-to-player to take the last shot in crunch time of basketball games. Junior forward Solomon Hill has been superb, but he needs some help from guys like Nick Johnson, Josiah Turner and Jordin Mayes.
Speaking of those Huskies, they’re 14-7 and 7-2 in Pac-12 play. Looks like Lorenzo Romar has lit a fire underneath his squad as of late—but will it last?
Hard to tell what team we’re going to see in the final nine games of conference play. We could see the team that almost beat Duke at Madison Square Garden or we could see the team that lost to South Dakota State (What, you didn’t know about the real SDSU?) by 19 points on their own home court.
Washington is a scary team—they could be scary good or scary bad. For the Pac-12’s sake, let’s hope they become scary good so the conference can at least get two-solid teams into the dance. The Huskies play UCLA Thursday in Seattle—it could honestly go either way.
Washington is by far the most talented team in this watered down Pac-12, but clearly hasn’t played up to their potential—something Coach Romar has been harping on all season long.
Early on it looked as if the Huskies were headed for a long season with bad losses to the likes of Nevada and South Dakota State at home. But, it looks like the talented Huskies are starting to turn things around with Terrence Ross, Tony Wroten Jr and company.
UCLA is a whole different story, a season that started with such promise from Coach Ben Howland saying earlier this year that: “This will be a deep, talented team”.
The Bruins have gone from deep and talented to deep in trouble. Last season they had guards that were capable of playmaking with the likes of current NBA-ers Tyler Honeycutt and Malcolm Lee.
If they had come back to Westwood, this might be a different UCLA team. Throw their departure in with the enigma that was junior forward Reeves Nelson. How bad was it?
Head coach Ben Howland kicked Nelson off of the team and Nelson signed with a professional team in Lithuania. Just five weeks into his professional career, the associated press has reported that the Lithuanian team has sent Nelson back home to our continent.
The sad part is, UCLA has the talent like Washington—and they just can’t put it together. From an interior standpoint, UCLA has one of the biggest frontlines in the country with David and Travis Wear (transfers from North Carolina) and Josh Smith (6 11, 305 lbs.), but outside of the Wear twins—they haven’t received much production. Smith continues to get in foul trouble and has come into this season out of shape.
All he had to do was lose 25-30 pounds after last season, and he would’ve easily been one of the most dominant big men in college basketball. At his weight right now (325 lbs, and I’m being generous when I say that), he’s still a game changing post player. Any Pac-12 coach will tell you that. But if he trimmed up his weight and worked hard, then he would be in the upper-tier of big men across college basketball.
Senior guard Jerime Anderson has been a bust his whole college career. With his arrival at Westwood, expectations were through the roof. He hasn’t lived up to them. In fact, the most he’s shown us has been glimpses—if that. Lazeric Jones is a serviceable guard at best, but he’s not a starting guard in the Pac-12. Fortunately for Jones, this year he is a starting guard because the conference is so watered down.
Jones is not on the same level as past point guards like Jordan Farmar, Darren Collison and Jrue Holiday. He gives his team a solid effort, but he’s still missing a few elements that make him an elite point guard. Tyler lamb is another guard that’s serviceable, but he hasn’t made a true impact this year for UCLA.
The bruins are 12-9 and they head up to play the Washington schools this weekend. This could be trouble because Washington State plays hard at home and Washington is on the rise. With that being said, it looks like the Bruins will miss the tournament for the second time in the last three seasons—sad considering the history and tradition that goes with UCLA.
There’s no way to say why these three teams: Arizona, Washington and UCLA are struggling right now. They have the tradition, talent, and coaches to be better than they are. Despite these teams’ recent struggles, there is still half the league left to play.
It’s unfortunate that all three of these teams could potentially miss the NCAA Tournament, but in the recent words of UCLA Head Coach Ben Howland: “It is what it is.”
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Pac-12 Basketball: Arizona State Wildcats, UCLA Bruins and Washington Huskies
Why are the Arizona Wildcats, UCLA Bruins and Washington Huskies struggling in the watered down Pac-12?
Have you ever been on one of those rollercoaster’s that goes up, down, side to side and then takes you upside down for a while—until you finally freak out and realize you’re going in too many directions that there’s no clear cut way?
Yeah, that’s what the Pac-12 basketball conference is like this year.
As a former player when the conference was the Pac-10, it was safe to say we were getting at least five teams in the NCAA tournament every year. We can certainly kiss that goodbye.
A conference that was once dubbed as a “super six conference”, along with the likes of the Big East and the ACC—it is now more of a: “Boy, I wonder what team will show up this week” conference.
People call me crazy of course, but I can’t help but think that traditional basketball powerhouses such as: UCLA and Arizona could be left out of the NCAA Tournament for the second time in three years.
Sure, Arizona had a mulligan year during the 2009-10 season when current Coach Sean Miller brought stability back to the program by taking over the reins for Hall of Fame Coach Lute Olson (which was understandable seeing as how Miller had to implement a new system). He also brought in new recruits and has weeded out the troubled players that had plagued the program during Olson’s final days.
Arizona wowed us last season by making a surprise run to the Elite Eight by piling on the shoulders of Derrick Williams (now with the Minnesota Timberwolves). Expectations were once again set high heading into the 2011-12 basketball season in Tucson.
The way it’s looking, Arizona will most likely receive an NIT bid and play the likes of Maryland or some other team that won’t deserve to be in the NCAA tournament either. The Wildcats lost to the Washington Huskies Saturday in Tucson on a last second block—only this time it was the huskies that won the game on the blocked shot.
Their guard-play has been struggling as of late. The Wildcats lack a true center and don’t have a go-to-player to take the last shot in crunch time of basketball games. Junior forward Solomon Hill has been superb, but needs some help from guys like Nick Johnson, Josiah Turner and Jordin Mayes.
Speaking of those Huskies, they’re 14-7 and 7-2 in Pac-12 play. Looks like Lorenzo Romar has lit a fire underneath his squad as of late—but will it last?
Hard to tell what team we’re going to see in the final nine games of conference play. We could see the team that almost beat Duke at Madison Square Garden or we could see the team that lost to South Dakota State (What, you didn’t know about the real SDSU?) by 19 points on their own home court.
Washington is a scary team—they could be scary good or scary bad. For the Pac-12’s sake, let’s hope they become scary good so the conference can at least get two-solid teams into the dance. The Huskies play UCLA Thursday in Seattle—it could honestly go either way.
Washington is by far the most talented team in this watered down Pac-12, but clearly hasn’t played up to their potential—something Coach Romar has been harping on all season long.
Early on it looked as if the Huskies were headed for a long season with bad losses to the likes of Nevada and South Dakota State at home. But, it looks like the talented Huskies are starting to turn things around with Terrence Ross, Tony Wroten Jr and company.
UCLA is a whole different story, a season that started with such promise from Coach Ben Howland saying earlier this year that: “This will be a deep, talented team”.
The Bruins have gone from deep and talented to deep in trouble. Last season they had guards that were capable of playmaking with the likes of current NBA-ers Tyler Honeycutt and Malcolm Lee.
If they had come back to Westwood, this might be a different UCLA team. Throw their departure in with the enigma that was junior forward Reeves Nelson. How bad was it?
Head coach Ben Howland kicked Nelson off of the team and Nelson signed with a professional team in Lithuania. Just five weeks into his professional career, the associated press has reported that the Lithuanian team has sent Nelson back home to our continent.
The sad part is, UCLA has the talent like Washington—and they just can’t put it together. From an interior standpoint, UCLA has one of the biggest frontlines in the country with David and Travis Wear (transfers from North Carolina) and Josh Smith (6 11, 305 lbs.), but outside of the Wear twins—they haven’t received much production. Smith continues to get in foul trouble and has come into this season out of shape.
All he had to do was lose 25-30 pounds after last season, and he would’ve easily been one of the most dominant big men in college basketball. At his weight right now (325 lbs, and I’m being generous when I say that), he’s still a game changing post player. Any Pac-12 coach will tell you that. But if he trimmed up his weight and worked hard, then he would be in the upper-tier of big men across college basketball.
Senior guard Jerime Anderson has been a bust his whole college career. With his arrival at Westwood, expectations were through the roof. He hasn’t lived up to them. In fact, the most he’s shown us has been glimpses—if that. Lazeric Jones is a serviceable guard at best, but he’s not a starting guard in the Pac-12. Fortunately for Jones, this year he is a starting guard because the conference is so watered down.
Jones is not on the same level as past point guards like Jordan Farmar, Darren Collison and Jrue Holiday. He gives his team a solid effort, but he’s still missing a few elements that make him an elite point guard. Tyler lamb is another guard that’s serviceable, but he hasn’t made a true impact this year for UCLA.
The bruins are 12-9 and they head up to play the Washington schools this weekend. This could be trouble because Washington State plays hard at home and Washington is on the rise. With that being said, it looks like the Bruins will miss the tournament for the second time in the last three seasons—sad considering the history and tradition that goes with UCLA.
There’s no way to say why these three teams: Arizona, Washington and UCLA are struggling right now. They have the tradition, talent, and coaches to be better than they are. Despite these teams’ recent struggles, there is still half the league left to play.
It’s unfortunate that all three of these teams could potentially miss the NCAA Tournament, but in the recent words of UCLA Head Coach Ben Howland: “It is what it is.”
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College Basketball 2012: Arizona Wildcats on B/R’s “Home Court Advantage”
State Farm’s Home Court Advantage heads off to the University of Arizona to see how their fan base compares to some of the best in the nation.
Watch this exclusive video from Bleacher Report to learn all about the history of the Arizona Wildcats. From the Wildcats bearing down to the rivalry with Arizona State, we have everything you need to know about the University of Arizona.
While Arizona hasn’t exactly been a premier basketball team over the past decade, they certainly have a proud history. This school rose to excellence under Lute Olson and the basketball fans at this campus are still some of the rowdiest in the country.
Don’t forget to comment below and let us know who you think has the most passionate fan base in the country!
If you like this video click here to check out more from Bleacher Report Productions.
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Washington vs. Arizona Basketball: Wildcats Lose More Than Game Against Huskies
An afternoon that should’ve just ended with a loss to Washington ended with a much more crushing blow. Arizona lost to Washington 69-67 in Tucson Saturday night but the big loss came after the game when the school announced that junior guard/forward Kevin Parrom broke a bone in his foot and would be sidelined for the rest of the season.
Parrom, who was coming on strong as of late with the previous games against Colorado and Utah, was shot in his right leg during the preseason in September while making a trip home to New York to visit his ailing mother. A redshirt seemed to be the only solution so he would be healthy for the following season but Parrom was adamant about rehabbing and coming back this year.
There were times out on the court when Parrom was still feeling the affects of the gunshot wound but started to find his footing as the season progressed. After news broke that he would be out for the year, Arizona head coach Sean Miller reflected on what Parrom means to the team.
“We missed him, no question about it,” Miller said Saturday, before UA announced the full extent of the injury.
“It’s a shame because Kevin right now is (effectively) a starter. He is. He would have probably been a starter from the first day of the season until now, but on the Colorado-Utah swing was probably the first time we saw him running and playing and confident. He almost had his full strength back.
He played an excellent half against Washington today. Not having him available for the second half was kind of the same look we’ve had prior to him coming back and our margin for error is razor-thin without him, that’s for sure.”
When the news was dealt to the junior guard that he would miss the remainder of the season, Arizona head coach Sean Miller summed it all up by saying this. “Life’s not fair sometimes,” Miller said. “You want to win every game and that’s the job that I have. But from (Parrom’s) perspective it would be nice if he could just catch a break.”
Now the Wildcats will be without one of their defensive stoppers for the remainder of the season. This is a team that already is lacking interior depth with no true center and now that the Wildcats have lost Parrom, other players will have to step up for Miller and his young group of Wildcats.
Freshman star guard Nick Johnson has been struggling of late for Arizona and had another difficult shooting night for the Wildcats. Johnson scored two points and only took four attempts in 27 minutes of playing time against the Huskies, a team that had been underachieving at the beginning of the year but now finds themselves atop the Pac-12 standings with the California Golden Bears.
Despite the loss, the Wildcats could still win the Pac-12 regular-season conference title. In a watered-down conference, Arizona finds themselves with two crucial road games coming up as they visit the Bay Area this week to take on Cal and Stanford, two teams that are also very capable of not only winning the conference but making a run into the NCAA tournament in a month-and-a-half.
Losing Parrom hurts Arizona, from a defensive standpoint, a team chemistry standpoint and an emotional standpoint because not only was Parrom a great weapon for this team but he was turning into a solid leader for Arizona. If the Wildcats want a chance at winning the Pac-12, Coach Miller may have to start using his backup centers Alex Jacobson and Kyryl Natyazhko.
If anything, Jacobson and Natyazhko can eat up space in the middle and grab rebounds, an area that the Wildcats have been lacking all season. Both Natyazhko and Jacobson stand at 7’0″ and if Miller were to insert them into the rotation they would definitely help on some level because Jesse Perry is only 6’7″ and is more of a swingman-type player than an interior post player.
I’m not taking anything away from Perry, because he does rebound and play at an extremely high level, but there has to be something that changes in order for Arizona to have a chance at winning the Pac-12.
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Arizona Wildcats Basketball: Guard/Forward Kevin Parrom Done for Season
Already coming off of a tough 69-67 defeat at home to the hands of the Washington Huskies, the Arizona Wildcats got some more bad news late Saturday night.
During Saturday’s game, Wildcats guard/forward Kevin Parrom suffered a broken bone in his right foot. The injury will require surgery, and the sophomore will miss the remainder of the season.
Before the injury took place, Parrom had seven points in 10 minutes of action. On the season, the New York product has averaged 4.9 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 20 games.
This injury news is the only the latest of a string of tough dealings that Parrom has had to face over the last several months. Last summer, his grandmother passed away. Just last September, he was shot in the right leg and left hand back in New York. Then in the middle of October, Parrom lost his mom to breast cancer.
Even as an alumnus of Arizona State, I still have to fill for the young man. No person deserves that much heartache in such a short time frame.
What remains to be seen is what the Parrom injury means for the ‘Cats rotation. Reserves Brendon Lavender and Angelo Chol could see a bump in minutes.
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Saturday on FOX Sports Arizona: Suns vs. Grizzlies, 7 p.m.
The Memphis Grizzlies are trying to avoid their longest skid of the season.
The Phoenix Suns would like to avert their longest home losing streak in almost eight years.
Rudy Gay and the Grizzlies will try to begin re-establishing their momentum by capitalizing on the struggling Suns on Saturday night.
Memphis (10-8) had a seven-game winning streak snapped with Tuesday’s 97-84 loss at Portland. The Grizzlies shot 37.8 percent from the floor before turning in a worse performance two days later, making 35.7 percent from the field in a 98-91 road loss to the Los Angeles Clippers.
“Our perimeter people did not shoot the ball very well,” coach Lionel Hollins said.
Gay led the Grizzlies with 24 points against the Clippers, adding seven rebounds while hitting 9 of 19 shots – 3 of 5 from beyond the arc. It was an improved effort from his 11 points on 5-for-15 shooting against the Trail Blazers.
The forward leads Memphis with 18.7 points per game and is tied for third with 6.2 rebounds. He’s averaging 24.4 points in his past five meetings with the Suns (6-12).
Gay could be poised for another strong performance against a Phoenix team that has lost eight of 10 while allowing opponents to average 99.0 points.
The Suns have dropped three in a row at home, and they haven’t endured a longer slide there since a five-game skid from March 6-19, 2004.
Their overall losing streak reached three Friday with an ugly 109-71 loss at Portland. The Suns scored 33 first-half points, shot 37.2 percent for the game and committed 22 turnovers.
Grant Hill, who led the team with 12 points, felt the Suns gave up.
“The thing that was surprising was that I thought we kind of folded,” Hill said. “We stopped competing there as soon as they came out and hit us hard.”
A better performance from Steve Nash will likely be needed if Phoenix is to end its losing streaks. The All-Star point guard had five points in nearly 25 minutes Friday, missing 5 of 7 from the field while dishing out seven assists.
Nash has been solid at home, where he’s averaging 14.1 points and 11.0 assists. He’s scored 16.8 points per game with 11.4 assists in the last five home meetings with Memphis.
While Zach Randolph continues to recover from a bruised knee, Gay is getting ample assistance from Marc Gasol.
The Spanish center had 18 points, 11 rebounds and six assists Friday, and is averaging career highs of 14.9 points and 10.3 boards.
“Marc Gasol has played well all season long,” Hollins said. “Since he has come back as a player, he has really stepped up his role as a leader. He’s looking to be more aggressive to score. He’s just coming into his own of becoming a very good player.”
Gasol managed just 17 total points in the last two meetings with Phoenix after scoring 26 on 12 of 13 from the field in a 123-118 double-overtime loss there Nov. 5, 2010.
Phoenix is 25-6 all-time at home against the Grizzlies, but has dropped two of the last three.
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Friday on FOX Sports Arizona: Suns vs. Grizzlies, 7 p.m.
The Memphis Grizzlies are trying to avoid their longest skid of the season.
The Phoenix Suns would like to avert their longest home losing streak in almost eight years.
Rudy Gay and the Grizzlies will try to begin re-establishing their momentum by capitalizing on the struggling Suns on Saturday night.
Memphis (10-8) had a seven-game winning streak snapped with Tuesday’s 97-84 loss at Portland. The Grizzlies shot 37.8 percent from the floor before turning in a worse performance two days later, making 35.7 percent from the field in a 98-91 road loss to the Los Angeles Clippers.
“Our perimeter people did not shoot the ball very well,” coach Lionel Hollins said.
Gay led the Grizzlies with 24 points against the Clippers, adding seven rebounds while hitting 9 of 19 shots – 3 of 5 from beyond the arc. It was an improved effort from his 11 points on 5-for-15 shooting against the Trail Blazers.
The forward leads Memphis with 18.7 points per game and is tied for third with 6.2 rebounds. He’s averaging 24.4 points in his past five meetings with the Suns (6-12).
Gay could be poised for another strong performance against a Phoenix team that has lost eight of 10 while allowing opponents to average 99.0 points.
The Suns have dropped three in a row at home, and they haven’t endured a longer slide there since a five-game skid from March 6-19, 2004.
Their overall losing streak reached three Friday with an ugly 109-71 loss at Portland. The Suns scored 33 first-half points, shot 37.2 percent for the game and committed 22 turnovers.
Grant Hill, who led the team with 12 points, felt the Suns gave up.
“The thing that was surprising was that I thought we kind of folded,” Hill said. “We stopped competing there as soon as they came out and hit us hard.”
A better performance from Steve Nash will likely be needed if Phoenix is to end its losing streaks. The All-Star point guard had five points in nearly 25 minutes Friday, missing 5 of 7 from the field while dishing out seven assists.
Nash has been solid at home, where he’s averaging 14.1 points and 11.0 assists. He’s scored 16.8 points per game with 11.4 assists in the last five home meetings with Memphis.
While Zach Randolph continues to recover from a bruised knee, Gay is getting ample assistance from Marc Gasol.
The Spanish center had 18 points, 11 rebounds and six assists Friday, and is averaging career highs of 14.9 points and 10.3 boards.
“Marc Gasol has played well all season long,” Hollins said. “Since he has come back as a player, he has really stepped up his role as a leader. He’s looking to be more aggressive to score. He’s just coming into his own of becoming a very good player.”
Gasol managed just 17 total points in the last two meetings with Phoenix after scoring 26 on 12 of 13 from the field in a 123-118 double-overtime loss there Nov. 5, 2010.
Phoenix is 25-6 all-time at home against the Grizzlies, but has dropped two of the last three.
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Arizona vs. Utah: Solomon Hill Ejected but Wildcats Still Blow Out Utes
Nastiness is a Sean Miller staple. It’s on tape.
That feature was crucial to last year’s sprint into the Elite Eight—well, that and the play of last year’s No. 2 NBA draft pick, Derrick Williams. And that edge is starting to become ingrained yet again in this year’s version.
But this season it’s being brought about by more confrontational means.
Star forward Solomon Hill was ejected in the second half of Arizona’s 77-51 victory over a bad Utah team—which just parted ways with its leading scorer—in Salt Lake City, just under two minutes into the second half.
The 6’6″ forward out of Los Angeles delivered what appeared to be a purposely-thrown elbow (at least in the eyes of the officials) to the back of the head of Utah’s Cedric Martin while the duo battled for position in the lane.
A strange thing happened right after that: Arizona played one its best halves of basketball all year.
When Hill—the team’s leading scorer, rebounder and distributor—was sent to the locker room, the score was 35-30 Arizona.
Just over three minutes later, the game was over.
Miller noted that it wasn’t Hill’s finest night to begin with, but he liked the response from the rest of the lineup (via Arizona Daily Star):
Solomon wasn’t playing well. It’s not as if we lost him on a real good night. He wasn’t having a good night. We’re clearly a better team with him. But in that brief moment when he left, we answered like you’d want a team to answer.
Small forward Kevin Parrom—still playing with bullet fragments lodged in his leg—took full advantage of Hill’s departure, sparking a 20-4 spree with his high-arching three-point stroke, hitting two in the run, while also getting active on the boards.
That outburst extended Arizona’s lead from 35-30 to 55-34, basically ending the night with over 12 minutes to play.
And it wasn’t just Parrom who took over for the absence of the program’s top option.
Nick Johnson, Arizona’s hyper-athletic freshman shooting guard, finally appeared to regain some confidence, hitting three of his four three-point looks.
And Kyle Fogg was as efficient as he’s been all season, going 4-for-7 from the field and totaling 12 points.
The Arizona defense, the program’s main redeeming asset this season, was effective yet again, holding Utah to just 40 percent from field goal range and 25 from beyond the arc.
The story of the night, however, was Hill’s elbow and the aftermath of the incident. It seemed to re-energize Arizona, crisp ball movement suddenly leading to open looks and converted opportunities.
For 18 minutes, Arizona was something it hasn’t been for most of the season: Fun to watch.
Hill is still Arizona’s best player.
His foul may have been out of frustration for having to try to carry this year’s crew at times this season. Miller didn’t seem convinced that the elbow was purposely thrown from the following quotes (Arizona Daily Star), and any future discipline is unknown:
The game’s changed. An incident like that five years ago, there would be no monitor to go to. A few years back it would just be chalked up to physical play. We never want our players to be dirty in any way. So if that’s what happened we’ll deal with Solomon.
I would like to think that it wasn’t a malicious hit. But I have to see it first.
The rest of the rotation cleaned up that blunder and dominated an out-manned Utah squad (the worst team in the Pac-12, and it’s not close) for the duration.
Coming on the heels of Arizona’s skirmish with Oregon State in overtime last Thursday, when a tussle between Fogg and Jared Cunningham led to a shoving match, Arizona seems to have taken on a new, if sometimes ill-advised, toughness.
Finally.
Arizona plays Colorado (which is 10-1 at home) on Saturday, with a chance to climb back into the Pac-12 title hunt. They might have to do it without Hill, given any potential penalty for the incident.
Still, their edge may be their edge.
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