"Tell them … tell the team to bear down"

Cats successful against zone in Tempe but not last week

One example of a fan’s T-shirt creation in regards to Kevin Parrom‘s “No Easy Buckets” hard foul against ASU’s Ty Abbott last month in Tempe

By Anthony Gimino and Javier Morales

Why did Arizona do so poorly against Oregon State’s 1-3-1 zone last week when it had done so well against ASU’s matchup zone a few weeks earlier? Let UA coach Sean Miller analyze it. “When we had transition opportunities, we made good plays and took good, quick shots,” he said of the 77-58 victory in Tempe. “When we didn’t have transition opportunities, we showed patience, we moved the ball, and tried to break their defense down, which is much easier said than done. They have a very good defense. But on that day, if you say, ‘Why did we win?’ we had that balance of transition opportunities with a lot of patience and movement.” … The Wildcats didn’t have that patience on offense against Oregon State and lost focus on defense. Miller, without naming names, was talking about sophomore guard Kyle Fogg as one of those whose effort was lacking on defense. Fogg knows it. “I mean, I just let my bad offense get to me on defense and I got unfocused,” he said. “I just had a bad game that night.” Fogg has been a willing defender during his time with the Wildcats, so perhaps it will be just a one-game blip. …

Kevin Parrom’s hard foul against ASU’s Ty Abbott last month has gotten a lot of play from the media then and now, so much so don’t expect fireworks to happen again tomorrow. The Pac-10 officiating crew will call the game closely, which could favor Arizona inasmuch as the game is in Tucson and the Cats can go eight to nine deep in case foul problems arise. A group of UA students have made T-shirts saying, “No Easy Buckets” in response to a Twitter message left by Parrom after the UA beat ASU 77-58 in Tempe. Parrom in part wrote “No Easy Buckets” in response to Abbott’s animated response to the play. If the restraint of Miller’s players this year is any indication, the UA should go without a technical foul. The UA players do not have a technical foul this season after getting three last year. ASU has three this season, including one by Abbott (who has two in his career). Remember J.P. Prince, who transferred from Arizona to Tennessee after his freshman season in 2005-06? He has two technical fouls as a senior with the Vols this season. …

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