Cats showing their defensive bite in early games
And Derrick Williams with the first nomination for Dunk of the Year
By Anthony Gimino
Hey, all …
Steve Rivera has a game blog at TucsonCitizen.com, so you can check out his thoughts on Arizona’s 66-49 victory over Rice, which made a nice little run there in the second half.
Still, a decent win for the Cats. Remember, the season is still ridiculously early, and Oregon State already lost to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Stanford lost to San Diego, UCLA lost to Cal State Fullerton, and Cal — picked to win the league — did a face-plant against Syracuse, losing 95-73.
So, yeah, any win is a good win.
Here is what I like so far.
The team’s 3-point defense.
Arizona’s 3-point defense in recent seasons has been average (to slightly below average), but it often seemed worse than that. It’s only been two games this season, but Sean Miller‘s man-to-man has been pressuring the ball and getting out on shooters, allowing only 2 of 18 3-point shots against Rice. And one of those makes was from NBA range. Stuff happens.
NAU, a fine shooting team that lives by the “Recruit to Shoot” motto, made just 5 of 15 from behind the arc in UA’s opener.
This is what Miller’s teams do. His last four teams at Xavier were each outstanding in 3-point defense:
2008-2009 — 32.6 percent.
2007-2008 — 33.6
2006-2007 — 31.5
2005-2006 — 31.7
Arizona’s first two games under Miller is a small sample size, but I think the 3-point defense is just the beginning of a very long trend. UA’s athleticism and length on the perimeter are going to give shooters fits, as long the Wildcats keep their energy up.
(For those of you watching on FSN Arizona, what do you think of new game analyst Corey Williams?)
A nearly completely unrelated link: The Onion’s take on Brandon Jennings
Tags: Sean Miller
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November 19th, 2009 at 9:37 PM
Well, there is promise. But …
fouls … freethrows … turnovers … shot selection (lavendar)
… all things that can be improved by talented players. Didnt hear the rebounding numbers.
I will say this … if coach Miller is going to use Williams, I suspect it would be better to avoid a classic on the blocks 5. (Unless they are working with Kyryl at the moment on something … drop step, hook …)
Two wins … even with some issues … great promise. At Maui however, someone is going to have to step up. They are about to play some real teams
I think they will do some things well.
November 19th, 2009 at 11:44 PM
I didn’t really see poor shot selection from anyone, except maybe MoMo, who was a little reckless. What I saw, was Rice play solid defense, and I saw us making a lot of unforced errors with poor passing and sloppy ball handling. I also saw Kyryl not using his body at all in the post; he and Derrick need to make more moves when they get down there, there were not a lot of pump fakes or posting up that Jordan Hill was masterful at. They’re freshmen, and it’s the 2nd game, we’ll get better.
November 20th, 2009 at 9:17 AM
Noone and David summed it up fairly well. I thought KReal looked timid to be honest. He looked fantastic in the red/blue and Augustana games but not so much in the last 2. Not sure what to make of that. Nic looked plain at times, losing control in the lane, poor decision making, too many turnovers. And he was blocked at least 4 or 5 times. Didn’t look like a POY candidate…and UA still won ugly. I think that is a great sign! To have some close, ugly, defensive games to start the year is the key to success with these youngsters. Teach ‘em that winning ISN’T EASY at this level.They need to up their play a little more each day in practice to be able to elevate this team to elite status, which I believe the Cats will be by March(provided there are NO major injuries, knock on wood).
As for Corey, I thought his ‘line of questioning’ was questionable. At halftime, just before the Cats disappeared into the locker room, he was able to pull Coach Miller aside. Corey starts off by praising the team’s defensive prowess in the beginning of the game as it then deteriorated down the stretch…and just left it…just like that. And it looked like Coach Miller was waiting on Corey to actually ask him something instead of just waiting for a response to his statement. It just looked awkward. He looks a little awkward, IMO.