Arizona Basketball leaders Ristic and Alkins took criticism to heart, went to work

The sky falls for 48 hours in Tucson after the Arizona Basketball team lost to the UCLA Bruins. That was motivation for the teams two leaders.

The lone week where the Arizona Basketball team took on the Los Angeles combo of USC and UCLA teams is in the books. The criticism between the two games was loud and clear and didn’t go unnoticed by leaders Dusan Ristic and Rawle Alkins.

On Thursday, the Wildcats faced the UCLA Bruins with McDonald’s All-American freshmen Jaylen Hands and Kris Wilkes along with leading scorer Aaron Holiday. The Cats kept Hands to just 11 points (nine of which came from three three-pointers in the final minutes of the first half) but did not bank on Gyorgy Goloman having the game of his life scoring 16 points.

Arizona Wildcats Basketball

A lot of criticism was thrown the Cats way for not playing great defense against UCLA, but sometimes no matter how you defend a player, the balls just are falling for that player. Sean Miller agrees, “UCLA is the hardest team in our conference team to defend — even with our best effort, they’re a difficult team to defend — sometimes you have to tip your hat to the opponent.”

Not only defense, but key Cats shots weren’t falling on offense either. If one or two players on a team are not shooting well, the rest of the team needs to step up. Sometimes, though, a team has a bad night.

The Cats were in the game with Washington, all the way to the end, it could have gone either way. Could they have played better in that hostile environment? Yes, they could have. The point is that they were in that game, the UCLA game just seemed to escape them from early on. After the loss, the sky fell in Tucson; the criticism came in droves.

Head coach Sean Miller has to shoulder some of the responsibility for the loss against UCLA. The last six minutes were predictable. Granted he tried a press, much earlier than he usually pulls out that strategy, but as soon as the Bruins made it past the half court line, there was no intentional foul, nothing. Couldn’t stop shaking my head.

And Keanu Pinder seemed to be bringing the juice against the Bruins, and Miller sat him in the final minutes. Pinder scored six points and grabbed two rebounds in just nine minutes. Miller seemed to give up on the game with six minutes left, in his body language in his play calling, without Ayton and Alkins firing, he kind of fell apart a bit too. That game was winnable.

Senior Dusan Ristic hit the nail on the head when he explained post game that if you make mistakes, you have to keep fighting. We saw a little of that from Deandre Ayton, and it was hard not too. It happens, players can have a bad game, much like you come home from work complaining that you had a bad day. But it builds character, it helps a player learn, and next time Dre faces a team like UCLA, he will be better equipped to handle the situation.

That said, even though Deandre Ayton went 7-19, he still scored 16 points and earned a double-double adding 12 rebounds.

Miller feels his team is dependent on Ayton, “This team goes as Deandre goes, and his defense sets the tone for a lot,” continued Miller, “We made our mind up after the UCLA game that instead of bouncing him back and forth and letting him guard multiple bigs, to let him guard one of them — and he is so gifted.”

Matt Moreno reported that the Cats got together as a team to discuss the loss against UCLA at home and on the road to Washington to get their thoughts all out on the table.

Dusan has been front and center at press conferences. Just like when Kadeem Allen was a senior, Miller trusts Ristic to answer the questions professionally and confidently. Miller was impressed after he asked his coach to speak to the team following the Bahama losses, and ever since Dusan has risen to the occasion.

All he’s got on the mind right now is the Final Four, along with his fellow senior Wildcat Parker Jackson-Cartwright, and he is not taking the challenge lightly. He is bringing the beast mode every game, hustling for second-chance points and rebounds, getting to the rim in a stronger fashion and feeling the intensity of the game and sharing it with the fans demonstratively. Which fans soak up!

This is the strongest we have seen the 7-footer, he has really matured as a player and a man, and it is impressive and wonderful to see. Fans kept praying that Dus would crank up his intensity, if only just a notch, but they are getting much more than they prayed for as he is one of the leaders on the team. Don’t mess with Dus! That should be the new hashtag (#DontMessWithDus).

Ristic highlights from the USC game:

Rawle is also on the mic a lot for the Cats. He is so honest and upfront, and it is so refreshing. He doesn’t feel he is the X-Factor on the team, but we are here to tell you, the Cats have only lost twice on the road and once at home with him in the line-up, losses these Wildcat took to heart.

King Rawle is back! “For me personally, it was a mental focus,” explained Alkins post USC win, “It was just kind of getting those repetitions, getting my shot back to normal — as a team, as a unit, we have to know that we are the best team in the country in our eyes, and we have to play like it.”

In his latest press conference

, Alkins was asked about fatigue and if its a factor along with his foot. “No. Just a missed shot, you know I’m allowed to miss to guys — I think guys are like, ‘his leg, his foot is not feeling good because he missed a shot’ it’s not true guys — everything is great. I just had a bad two weeks.” He went on to tell the media that they

should watch him in practice and warm-ups, he dunks and shoots the same shots.

Alkins is a versatile player who prides himself doing a bit of everything. Against UCLA, he didn’t rack up stats and points, but he did have moments of brilliance defensively and played tough defense.

But sometimes there is nothing you can do if the other team’s shots are hot. King Rawle does a lot of things on the court that no one records as a stat. That includes heart, that includes hustle, that includes not giving up, and also all the defense that causes missed shots even if he doesn’t touch the ball. But that alone will not get you far in a pro career without scoring, and no one knows that more than Alkins.

Alkins is not one to fold, he rises to the occasion, and he didn’t give up, he just didn’t play the way he expects to play. In his words, “I just had a bad two weeks. No pain. It was just me. I played like trash.” He absolutely hates to lose, and he beats himself up enough to not need external criticism to be motivated. He just did something about it.

King Rawle went to work on his shot. He just spent extra time in the gym, he put in overtime, and it paid off. “I was just getting more reps, just repetition, I knew where I was going to get shots,” he explained, “It was just the way it was coming out of my hand it felt kind of weird — so last night and early before the game I was just getting a lot of shots off — it’s paying off.” Dusan explained how his teammate affects the team, “Rawle brings us like some kind of toughness when he plays well, it affects everybody plays and everybody with a chip on their shoulder and extra energy.”

As far as the NBA Draft, Alkins says he doesn’t pay attention to any of the sources, but happy to be in the right direction in mock drafts as his projected spot is moving up.

Rawle team-high 20-point highlights from USC Game:

Rawle’s Interview on Monday:

“Rawle — To see him come out with that confidence, it was a great feeling,” said Miller post game (USC) on Rawle Alkins performance. On Dusan, “I just think Dusan has become an All-Conference player. Statistically, there’s no denying that. He’s a terrific kid; I hope he can become the all-time winningest player, I think it will be a remarkable story — both Parker and him showed a lot of leadership over the last couple of days, and they had our team ready.”

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Let’s sweep those Sun Devils, shall we?