SALON

Thursday, Nov 22, 2012 9:45 PM UTC

No. 10 Arizona on a roll headed into break

By

Topics: From the Wires,

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — Arizona has gotten better with each game this season, the margins of victory growing, its talented freshman becoming more confident and comfortable.

But after rolling over Long Beach State in their last game, the 10th-ranked Wildcats have an eight-day break before their next game.

A potential momentum killer?

Arizona coach Sean Miller doesn’t see it that way.

He sees the extended time off as a chance re-iterate what the team has done right, work on the few things it has done wrong.

“I think every team in November is on a quest to get better and continually improve,” Miller said after Arizona beat Long Beach State 94-72 on Monday night at home. “We have a great opportunity now to learn through our game experience and now build.”

Arizona entered the season with plenty of expectations, thanks to a roster loaded with proven veterans and another stellar recruiting class by Miller.

The Wildcats have lived up to those so far, pulling away from Charleston Southern for an opening 82-73 victory, then rolling over Texas-El Paso 72-51.

Arizona played its best game of the regular or exhibition season Monday night, racing out to a 22-point lead in the first half and shooting 53 percent in the never-in-doubt win over the 49ers.

Through those first three games, the Wildcats’ returning players have played well.

Forward Solomon Hill finds a way to fill up the stat sheet whether he shoots well or not, guard Nick Johnson has shown poise in his second season and Kevin Parrom appears to be back to being the player he was before being shots before the 2011-12 season.

Those talented youngsters haven’t been bad, either.

Forward Grant Jerrett looked comfortable with the college game right off the bat, opening the season as a starter. Center Kaleb Tarczewski struggled in the opener against Charleston Southern’s smaller players, but has played better in stretches the past two games as his teammates have gotten the ball to him down low.

Forward Brandon Ashley earned the start against Long Beach State with his hard work in practice and had a superb debut, hitting all six of his shots while scoring 20 points and grabbing 10 rebounds.

The Wildcats are deep, talented and on a roll to start the season, looking forward to the chance at getting better.

“You don’t really get holidays around here, especially when you’re playing,” Hill said. “It’s nice to enjoy (Thanksgiving) as a team — we’re going to get together as a team — but the goal is to win, so you can only take so many days off.”

It hasn’t been perfect.

Arizona has had trouble getting the ball into the low post consistently, particularly to the 7-foot Tarczewski, who is far more effective when has the ball around the rim.

Point guards Mark Lyons and Jordin Mayes have combined for 16 assists and 14 turnovers as they try to mesh with a roster that has several new players at key spots.

There also have been times when the Wildcats have fouled too much, particularly late in the shot clock, bailing out shooters at the last second after playing good defense to that point.

The biggest concern is defending the 3-point shot.

Charleston Southern spent most of the opener casting up 3-pointers, shooting 28 — compared to 22 from inside the arc — and making 10. Long Beach State also took more than half its shots from 3-point range, making 14 of 32.

Arizona had some trouble defending the 3 in exhibition games, too, and teams are hitting 39 percent of their shots from the arc so far.

“At this break, that’s a real big focus for us to be able to take away the three-point shot,” Miller said. “That’s one of the main things we’re going to try to get better at during this break.”

The Wildcats will have plenty of time to work on it before their next game, against Northern Arizona on Nov. 28, which is fine by their coach.

More John Marshall.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 0 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations