Arizona Basketball is back home this week, but that doesn’t mean things get much easier.
The Cats are preparing for their rematch with Cal tonight, and the Golden Bears are playing their best basketball of the season.
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Entering the road trip to Colorado and Utah last week, the Wildcats were tied at the top of the Pac-12 conference. We all know how that week went, with two disappointing losses, especially to Colorado.
The team and the fans couldn’t be happier that the final two games of the regular season are at home. The Wildcats are a completely different team at home then they are away. But with the Cal Golden Bears and Stanford Cardinal visiting Tucson, winning out won’t be as easy as one would hope.
The California Golden Bears come into Tucson tonight on a high. In addition to playing their best basketball of the season of late, they have the added confidence of beating Arizona earlier in the season.
Yes, we heard the same thing about Utah last week, and we saw how that worked out . Arizona knows they are going to get a fight in their last two games of the regular season. Cal is on a seven-game winning streak, stomping all over UCLA and USC last week. Their winning streak also includes a twenty-point win over Oregon, the No.1 team in the Pac-12.
Arizona will need to play their best game of the season. In order for the Wildcats to walk away with a victory, the guard play must come together and step up.
Aside from Allonzo Trier, the Arizona guards have been lacking consistency on both ends of the floor. But what we did learn from last week is that Trier is our go-to player. No one on Utah’s team could guard him.
The last time Arizona and Cal met, Trier was still out with his broken hand, and the Wildcats lost by one. This time around, Cal is going to have to account for Trier, which means a completely different defensive game plan for Cal. The offense needs to go through Trier.
Parker Jackson-Cartwright has faded recently and seemed nowhere to be found in the Mountains. He played 21 minutes against Colorado, and only 12 at Utah. He scored a total of two points, four assists and gave up six turnovers. This is not good, this is the tine of the season to peak, so his minutes against Utah diminished.
No one expected PJC to be a mirror image of TJ McConnell. But we expected more consistency and care with the ball than what we’ve been seeing. On the road, PJC has been a liability. At home, we’ve seen a better PJC. But I have a feeling he won’t be starting Thursday night.
Kadeem Allen is just now starting to look like the player prior to him playing while he was battling illness. He lost a total of 17 pounds over that period of time. Allen also hasn’t lived up to expectations, but that isn’t necessarily his fault.
Coach Miller asked Kadeem to be more of a true point guard. We’ve been saying all year that Kadeem should have been given the reigns to be a Mark Lyons type player. Kadeem is the second best guard at creating his own shot. He’s been sloppy, and at the worst times. But his defense has been far better than Gabe York and PJC.
Kadeem will need to have a sound game, and remain under control, to help slow down the Cal guards.
Gabe York just wasn’t anywhere to be found either on last week’s trip. York played a total of 67 minutes, scoring 18 points on 7-26 shooting (2-10 from deep), he turned over the ball four times. He was a liability on defense for the Wildcats as the Utah and Colorado guards were able to blow by him, cross him up, or lose him several times.
York shot an ugly 27 percent from the field and two percent from 3-point land. His offensive game and his composure must be there against Cal for the Wildcats to have a shot at winning.
It is no secret how upset Miller was with last week. He called out his players for little effort, and sloppy defense. He made adjustments by starting Chance Comanche in the second half of the Utah game.
Chance put in the best 11 minutes a bench player could have. This team was a different team with Chance on the floor. After the game, Miller had a lot of praise for him. Chance needs to have a decent amount of minutes tonight.
These little adjustments only help the Wildcats. The regular season title might be out of reach, but the tournament is wide-open. With only two games left in the season, it’s time for this team to live up to the hype, and prove they should be feared.
It all starts tonight with Cal.
More wildcats: Wildcats Bracketology
BearDown Arizona!