With Oregon sitting atop the Pac-12 Conference, tonight’s game was going to be tough.
The nation’s longest home winning streak was on the line. The Wildcats wanted to prove they are better than what they showed in Berkeley.
The Wildcats were coming off a very disappointing loss to Cal. With the nation’s home winning streak at 49, Arizona couldn’t have been happier to be back in Tucson. With Oregon playing their best basketball of the season, tonight’s game was expected to be a battle.
The Wildcats came right out of the gate swinging. Within the first eight minutes of the game, we all thought this was going to be a blowout win.
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Arizona also had the past three games on their side, with beating Oregon by an average of 22 ppg. The hot shooting Cats were even perfect from the field for a good portion of the first half. They flexed their muscle down low and shot lights out, to put a scare into the Ducks to go up 26-13 with 11 minutes left in the first half.
But then the Ducks began to answer the bell. The two teams were trading shots and Arizona was able to keep a decent lead most for most of the first half. Ryan Anderson and Kaleb Tarczewski led the Wildcats in the first half, at one point combining for 19 points. Anderson was literally perfect from the field for a good amount of time.
Towards the end of the first half is when we saw the Oregon team that the conference has been boasting about. Dwayne Benjamin hit two three’s in a row and began to show his length on defense, he made three out of five tonight. Dorsey, who if you remember had originally committed to Arizona, also began to show why Arizona recruited him. He was able to get by whichever Wildcat was guarding him. With Oregon down 42-39 in the final seconds, Dorsey came off a screen and made another uncontested lay-up off of the out-of-bounds play to put his team down by only one at the half.
Arizona had one of their best shooting performance of the year in the first half. So how is it that when a team’s shooting percentage at home is that high, did the Cats end the half only up by one point? One word. Turnovers. Ten total at the half to be exact.
The Achilles heel of this team has been turnovers. Against Cal, the Wildcats had five turnovers in the first couple of minutes of the second half. Against a team like Oregon, who thrive off of getting out and running, you cannot allow them more chances to do just that.
With hopes of seeing some fire from Arizona coming out of halftime, those hopes were quickly brushed aside. Boucher, Brooks, and Cook all pushed the Oregon Ducks to a 49-46 lead, one they wouldn’t relinquish the rest of the night. As the Ducks revved up their defense, the Wildcats began to fall apart and Oregon capitalized.
Remember the ten turnovers from the first half? That quickly rose and by the end of the night, their turnovers totaled 19 for the night. The point here is that those 19 turnovers converted into 21 more shots for Oregon. Oregon shot more that Arizona and Arizona was still in the game mostly because of all the free throws they made; 11-15 in the second half alone.
Parker Jackson-Cartwright tied the game at 64-64 with just under seven minutes remaining. There was still hope. The Ducks weren’t phased by the home crowd and continued to press Arizona into sloppy play. Brooks, who finished the night with 24 points, carried his team down the
stretch. “It’s an amazing feeling. Especially when you see their fans leaving too.” Ouch! That hurt! Even Bill Walton noticed fans leaving early, other fans were incensed by that. Note, the ZonaZoo stayed and cheered for their team even after they lost.
Over the last 6 1/2 minutes of the game, the Oregon Ducks outscored Arizona 19-11. Gabe York was doing all he could to help Arizona mount a comeback. He hit a deep three under a minute left to put Arizona within 5 points.
As Arizona pressed, the Ducks were able to break through for a wide open lay-up. As the crowd filed out of the building, it was the Oregon players and coach Dana Altman celebrating the 83-75 win.
Miller alluded to the fact post-game that his players were playing for themselves and not as a team. That’s just one issue he needs to solve. He may just need to use a different approach for this team, it’s not the same team as last year. He pointed that out too.
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This team needs to dig deep. The defense was weak tonight after the first 12 minutes of the game. Players weren’t communicating on screens. Players were out of position, trying to do too much, and this led to wide open shots for Oregon. On the night, the Ducks scored 44 points in the paint even though they were undersized all night.
This absolutely cannot happen, it especially cannot happen at home.
It’s not the time to jump ship just yet. All of you who are tweeting about this team being on the bubble for the tournament just need to calm down. Really, just take a deep breath. This obviously isn’t the best defensive team Sean Miller has had. In fact, this could be the worst defensive team he’s had, he said as much in his post-game presser.
What this team is missing is a key piece of the pie in freshman Allonzo Trier. I honestly believe that this team wouldn’t have lost to Cal or Oregon tonight had Trier been in the game, not to mention Elliott Pitts and Ray Smith.
The truth about why this team is losing is because they are showing a lack of energy, emotion, and intensity. We no longer have a Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Stanley Johnson, T.J. McConnell, and Aaron Gordon to fire up the players.
Yes, they all were great players who got it done offensively as well as defensively. But each one of those players had aggression and intensity while playing the entire game.
They were yelling, flexing, chest bumping, doing all they could to hype the team. When you have a group of players who show very little emotion, in wins and losses, you don’t know who to count on. Someone needs to step up on the bench and get their fellow teammates pumped up, take on the T.J. role.
With tonight’s loss, Arizona is now 4-4 in the Pac-12, and 16-5 on the season. If they want to keep their streak of being ranked in the Top 25, they better beat up on Oregon State this weekend. If Arizona plans on beating Oregon State, they better find a way to beat a zone.
Tonight was a disappointment, no question. The team is better than this. The players are too experienced to allow the lack of effort we’ve seen in the losses. As fans, we need to rally behind this team. It’s time for Arizona to figure out what it means to BEARDOWN.
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Notes from the game:
- Sean Miller and Kaleb Tarczewski got into a heated, very awkward, argument tonight. Bill Walton gave his input, criticizing Miller for how he publicly berated Kaleb. The two have a great relationship, but it was still uncomfortable to watch. It is now permanently captured on film.
- Ryan Anderson finished the night with another double-double: 22 pts, 10 rebs, on 8/9 shooting from the field.
- Gabe York was the second leading scorer for the Wildcats, finishing with 18 pts.
- Five Oregon players finished in double digits scoring.
- Arizona finished the night shooting 61%