Arizona Basketball: Arizona could have easily beaten Gonzaga with a few adjustments

With just a few adjustments and surprises, Arizona Basketball could have easily beat Gonzaga on Saturday.

“Gonzaga went smaller for longer periods of time,” said Arizona Basketball head coach Sean Miller who seemed to be thrown for a loop. Miller felt he also had to go smaller and got his team out of rhythm. But the top scorers for Arizona were the bigs in Zeke Nnaji and Josh Green.

Very often Arizona’s losses come to coaches who throw multiple defenses to the Cats in Oregon’s Dana Altman and Gonzaga’s Mark Few. Miller also felt he needs to get Zeke Nnaji more touches, and more time in the game, he wants to correct that.

Miller thought the team fought hard to the end and rallied to almost be able to win the game, he loved their passion on the court. He mentioned having true freshman, a new team that has a lot to learn, and he credits Gonzaga. Losing at home is a very hard pill to swallow, and in a huge non-conference game against a No. 6 ranked team nationally.

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“I guess I have a lot on my mind,” Miller confessed post-game. Look for further analysis from Miller after he studies the game film. The Cats struggled from three making 8-30 shots from three, and 30-80 overall (38%) and still came within a few points to possibly win the game.

Bright spots in the Gonzaga game:

1. Cats made 92.3% of their free throws, in this game, that stat belongs to Josh Green (6-6) and Nnaji (6-7). Interesting that only two of Arizona’s players made it to the charity stripe during the game. THOSE REFS!
2. Nnaji grabbed 17 rebounds against a top 10 team, he can create his own shots. He scored 16 points, making 6-7 of his free-throws, and blocked a shot.
3. Nico Mannion tallied up 10 assists even with his off shooting night. Needless to say, Nico’s made shots in the last few minutes kept the Cats in the game.
4. As a team, the Wildcats only turned over the ball six times.
5. Max Hazzard made three of four threes.
6. Jemari Baker Jr., if you take out missed three’s, made three of five shots, that’s 60% completion.
7. Miller kept one time-out just in case, being out of time-outs seems to result in losses most of the time.

Getting Stone Gettings back in the line-up, after he recovers from a concussion, should help greatly with made three-pointers as he was averaging 44% from three. He also was shooting 50% overall, so just imagine what the team will be able to do when he gets healthy.

This was a winnable game, that’s why it feels so frustrating as fans and probably within A Players Program. Miller has the talent but, as he even mentions, his decision needs improvement. As we have said before, Miller and his staff need to throw the opponents off-guard more often and make an unexpected change of going shorter on the floor, changing up the defense and going to the hot hand. We all want him to be a legendary coach, and Coach Few is one of those, he surprised Miller with his shorter lineup.

I have suggested many times, and just recently at the Pac-12 Media Day, for Miller to add a zone defense and more pressing to his list of adjustments, he needs to try different things. Here are a few things I think he could have done as a coach to get a win:

1. Press earlier. It worked, and if the Cats could have thrown out a press at the start of the second half or when shooting got cold, it could have changed the course of the game earlier than the last minutes.
2. Seeing Nico struggle from three, but then rack up assists, have Nico pass more to the hot hands, such as Max Hazzard, also give Hazzard more minutes. Heck, throw three-point sharp-shooter Jake DesJardins in to get the score up when needed.
3. Throw Ira Lee, who was getting rebounds, and Christian Koloko into the game to mix up the opponent who had figured out how to play against the squad on the floor. Chase Jeter was 5-8 with six rebounds, maybe Jeter should have seen the floor more.
4. Don’t give up on defense. When a big is guarding a point guard on the three-point line, stay with the guard, don’t slump off to catch the big man too soon. I saw the guards were frustrated but then saw a play when the Cats big left him. This requires help defense from the rest of the team under the basket.

Nico spent post-game getting up shots after the loss. Kobe Bryant really rubbed off on him, he has so much potential and kept the Cats in the game to the end. We hope Miller decides to surprise opponents with defenses and tactics in the future. There is lots of promise in this team, no need to panic. As always, Bear Down, Arizona!