Arizona Wildcats: Three Thoughts on Win Over UTEP
By Daniel Tran
1. The Arizona Wildcats offense is disappearing for stretches again.
Just when you thought the Arizona Wildcats were over their offensive struggles, they have a game where they let a team come back from a big deficit due to a rough scoring drought.
Arizona burst out of the gate to the tune of a 15-2 lead and delivered an early haymaker that stunned the UTEP Miners in the first six minutes of the game. After that, however, the Wildcats went cold.
For a stretch of five minutes after jumping to that 15-2 lead, the Arizona Wildcats failed to make field goal and Miners clawed their way back into the game. Granted, a lot of UTEP’s shots were contested, which is testament to the Wildcats defense, but without an offense to keep the Miners at bay, the Wildcats let UTEP rally.
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In previous games against Michigan and Oakland, the Wildcats shot a very impressive 58.2 percent and 55.0 percent from the field respectively. Going against an UTEP team that ranks 145th in the nation in terms of defensive rating should not have affected the Wildcats enough to shoot 45.5% from the field.
With conference play beginning soon, the Wildcats need to address this issue if it plans on continuing its dominance of the Pac-12.
2. Kind of tough to score, when you are giving the ball away to the other team.
It is one thing if you are not hitting your shots, but if you are going to that, do not give the opposition extra possessions. Tonight against UTEP, the Arizona Wildcats turned the ball over 17 times with 10 of those occurring the first half, which allowed the Miners to cut the deficit to three at the break.
There is some excuse that can be found in the fact that this was Arizona’s first true away game. Freshman stud Stanley Johnson played a decent game, scoring 17 points and grabbing 6 rebounds, but he also committed four turnovers in his first game experiencing a hostile environment. With time, he should be better prepared for that kind of abuse in the future.
The veterans, on the other hand, should have been used to playing away from the McKale Center. Veteran guard T.J. McConnell made up for his three turnovers by dishing out eight assists, but junior center Kaleb Tarczewski had no excuse of the five giveaways he was charged and junior guard Gabe York coughed up the ball three times.
In a Pac-12 conference with teams itching to get out the fast break, those turnovers will turn into easy baskets for the opposition if the Wildcats do not take care of the ball.
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3. Good thing the Arizona Wildcats love to run, too.
Do not think that the Wildcats are not willing participants in the breakneck, fast break conference that is the Pac-12. They love getting out in transition as much as any team in the nation.
Against the Miners, the Wildcats piled up 16 points in transition. Their smothering defense is the catalyst that gets them easy baskets quickly on the other end of the court. Even though they were committing turnovers of their own, Arizona managed to force 17 turnovers themselves, creating a combination of open jump shots, easy layups, or a trip to the foul line.
In the beginning of the first half, their potential in transition was on full display. The defense hounded UTEP into tough shots or turnovers, which led to an outlet pass to McConnell who could take it himself, pass the ball to York for an open three-pointer, or toss it Johnson for an athletic finish on the inside. McConnell could also slow down to hit a trailing Brandon Ashley who can make jump shots with ease. It was a Las Vegas buffet of poisons that the Miners had to choose.
Look for the Wildcats to continue to ride this transition game when their offense sputters again.