Arizona Basketball: Wildcat fans not confident in Sean Miller anymore

Arizona Basketball had another heartbreak as they lost by one point after being up as much as 22 against ASU, which has caused fans to lose confidence in Sean Miller.

Unbelievable. Up 22 points with a lot of time left, Arizona Basketball fans knew this one wasn’t over. The team couldn’t miss and everything was going the Wildcats way. But as soon as Nico Mannion received his second foul in the first half, things started to fall apart and fans began to see the writing on the wall. Before you knew it ASU was right back in this one and found a way to win by 1 point at home. Immediately, fans started to call out Sean Miller and his coaching abilities. Too many close losses this year have caused fans to lose confidence in him.

This game sums up everything about Miller that fans have been complaining about for a while now. Before I go any further, we do try and keep it as positive as we can here at Zona Zealots, but sometimes it’s important we state the obvious. That being said, it was not a good look for Miller last night in the decisions he made.

5, 4, 3, 1 (OT), 17,1. Those are the number of points the Wildcats have lost by in six games this season. All but one game came down to the closing minutes and they couldn’t get it done. It happens once, okay maybe it was a bounce or call that didn’t go their way, but five times in a season, something isn’t right.

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In years past, Miller has had some games in which his team found a way to win at the end. Kadeem Allen’s winning layup or Mark Lyon’s game-winning shot or even this season Nico Mannion’s winning runner against Pepperdine. This season though they have had too many games in which they couldn’t execute down the stretch.

Several things occurred in this devastating loss to the Sun Devils that have contributed to fans’ loss of confidence in Miller.

Nico Mannion. As soon as Mannion received his second foul in the first half Miller decided to take him out of the game. The Sun Devils took advantage and went on a run. At a certain point, Miller should have realized the context of the situation and even though Mannion had two fouls, he is too valuable of a player to sit out the remainder of the first half.

Mannion could have picked up his third foul in the first half, but that is a chance you have to take as a head coach, especially on the road in the Pac-12. Miller not taking chances or risks is one of his downfalls and cost him in this one.

Mannion was feeling it from three, couldn’t miss, but as soon as he got his second foul, Miller pulled him. When he came back in the second half, Mannion had a hard time getting back that confidence, which was costly in the end.

Max Hazzard. One of the best three-point shooters on this team and has been on fire of late, played only seven minutes, scored 0 points and took only two shots. Miller indicating after the game he benched Hazzard for the rest of the game after taking a bad shot in the first half. What?? That makes no sense.

Shooters like Max are supposed to shoot the ball. Punish him for taking one bad shot. Poor decision. The Wildcats could have used him in the second half to knock down a few threes. Instead, he didn’t see a single minute in the second half. Wow, talk about killing any confidence Hazzard had going into this one.

Timeouts. Once again Miller’s use of timeouts was puzzling. At the 4:18 mark in the second half, down 59-60, he used the Wildcats last timeout. On the road, in a hostile environment, knowing this game will likely come down to the last minute, why use the last timeout?? Again, makes no sense.

The under four-minute media timeout is right around the corner, let his team play it out and save that timeout till the end. Nope. Not having any at the end of this one led to poor planning and execution at the end.

Closing out the game. With no timeouts left, it was going to be challenging for a young team to come up with a game plan and find a way to win. That’s exactly what happened. Miller’s decision to leave a small lineup on the floor allowed the ASU to drive to the basket and score the winning layup. After the game, Miller did indicate he’ll take the blame on that one for having the wrong lineup on the floor. If he only had timeouts left, he could have put some bigs out there.

Then the last play to win the game, Josh Green clearly got fouled when he put up the shot (Pac-12 refs at their finest), but no call was made. Game over. Wildcats lose. Again, I know I sound repetitive but Miller not having any timeouts was huge here. Plus, even if he had timeouts could this one had turned out differently? We’ll never know.  In previous games when he did draw up a play, the play call and execution was bad.

What we do know is that the Wildcats have not won a Pac-12 road game yet. At 13-6 overall and 3-3 in the conference, this team more than ever will need to find a way to win at least a couple on the road. Up next is the Washington schools, which are no gimmes.

At Zona Zealots, we have always supported Sean Miller, but right now it’s hard. He has recruited and developed some great players that have gone on to have remarkable careers in the NBA. The way he has been coaching of late has caused Arizona Basketball fans to lose confidence. No more excuses and taking the blame, the time is now for him to figure this out and get this team to start winning games down the stretch, especially on the road. As always, Bear Down, Arizona!