Arizona Basketball: Rawle Alkins clutch in sealing win over Beavers
Big Shot Rawle Alkins proved he is clutch for Arizona Basketball and helped to close out a game, and that’s what the NBA wants.
Arizona Basketball combo guard Rawle Alkins was out there in Corvallis proving he’s a closer, a player who can rise to the occasion. Alkins says he will, “Do whatever it takes to win.” His words but we understand the Arizona Basketball team struggles without him on the roster. Getting a Pac-12 Championship is first and foremost on his mind, but he knows winning is key to reaching his goals. When some give up, King Rawle shines.
The potential is what is important to NBA Scouts and teams. They look at not only if you can score, but if you can score at the right time. Like when the game is on the line, or you need free-throws made to get your team to overtime to win.
Arizona Wildcats Basketball
Alkins rose to the occasion making big shots down the stretch. He must have been frustrated in the first half which was a carryover from the previous game against ASU when he was missing shots. But this Wildcat didn’t let that get to him, he pushed through and was a game-changer on Thursday night.
Head coach Sean Miller had his back against the wall in this game. Down two key players, Allonzo Trier due to some silly NCAA officials who aren’t using common sense, and Ira Lee recovering from a concussion suffered in practice. He was relentless in his coaching. When we have seen him give up in earlier games in the season, he and his star guard Alkins did not give up. At one time the cameras panned to the bench where you could see Miller passionately explaining to Alkins what needed to be done, and Alkins shook his head in agreement.
Alkins along with Dusan Ristic, who has become the leader of this team, pushed through bogus and non-existent foul calls to will the team in an overtime victory 75-65. Deandre Ayton earned his 18th double-double with 19 points and 12 rebounds. The three players scored in double digits. And even though Miller didn’t have many words post the Oregon State overtime thriller, Ayton and Alkins were riding the high and spoke with the media.
Ayton praised Alkins, said he hits big shots in practice all the time. “Oh man, those are important. Especially for Rawle, he’s so quiet — when he makes big shots like that, it’s like, man, he really came through,” Ayton explained, “Big shots, like, that is crazy, it’s unbelievable, he does it in practice.”
Rawle Alkins hit two free-throws, two of the biggest free-throws so far in his career sending the game into overtime. “You know when we were down two, those free-throws, those were probably the biggest free-throws of my life, once I got that going, I started to get comfortable, got my confidence going, and the rest is history.”
And you would think icing was a football thing, but it’s not. Oregon State head coach Wayne Tinkle pulled out icing in this game and iced Alkins in-between his two free-throw attempts. “It was tough [getting his mindset before shooting the free-throws],” said King Rawle, “I started to think about a lot of things, especially during those two timeouts. You know they tried to ice me on the free-throw line, I hit the first one, and then I knew the next one was going in.”
It wasn’t just the two free throws that sealed the deal for the Cats in this game against Ethan and Steven Thompson and the Beavs, and it was his back-to-back triples. Ice in his veins, that’s what he had on Thursday night proving he is a clutch player! He may have earned himself a new nickname, “Big Shot Rawle.”
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“As long as we bring our /A\ game, we play hard, we can beat any team in the nation,” claimed Alkins. We believe, Rawle, we believe! Bear Down and live the Savage Life!