Arizona Basketball: Biggest Lessons Learned in Pac-12 Play so Far

As an overwhelming favorite to win the Pac-12 prior to the season, Arizona basketball took a small stumble in the early going of conference play and currently stand half a game back in the Pac-12 standings with a 4-1 record.

The lone loss came at the hands of Oregon State in upset fashion, but Sean Miller’s team has dominated the rest of its competition in the Pac-12 so far, including a blowout victory over the then-No. 8 and current Pac-12 leader Utah in Tucson.

The two contrasting performances each tell something different about the Wildcats this season, and with a showdown looming against Stanford on the road on Thursday night, Arizona can only hope its team can play more like the latter throughout the remainder of the season.

Five games is a small sample of what the Wildcats can accomplish in the Pac-12 this season, but nevertheless, here is a look at some of the lessons we have learned so far from the current No. 7 team in the country.

One of the biggest causes for Arizona’s loss to Oregon State was its inability to score from the perimeter. The Wildcats made just four of their 17 attempts from beyond the arc in that game and had no answer for the Beavers’ zone defense.

If the poor shooting from that game was just an aberration for Arizona, then there is not much to be worried about. But the Wildcats have made the third-fewest three-pointers among all Pac-12 teams on the season, converting just 92 out of their 258 attempts for 35.7 percent. 

The problem only worsened once conference play began. The Wildcats shot just 30.2 percent from range and made 19 of 63 attempts through five games.

T.J. McConnell, who converted 36 percent of his three-pointers last season, is shooting just 28.9 percent this season. Gabe York also saw his accuracy dip from 38.5 percent last year to 35.7 percent this season.

If Arizona can find a way to play at a more uptempo rhythm like it did last season, it can overcome some of the poor shooting, but this year’s squad does not seem to have the same kind of coherence.

When the expectation for this team is to reach the Final Four, it’s hard to downplay the hype and attention that come with it.

After the upset loss to Oregon State, the Wildcats managed to rebound quickly and put in back-to-back dominant performances to defeat Colorado and Utah.

This is the type of focus needed for Sean Miller while he helps his team navigate the remainder of the season, as he told The Arizona Daily Star's Bruce Pascoe:

You really can't pay attention to it. The emotion is not what life's about. Nothing's ever that great. Nothing's ever that bad. Those that jump quickly to criticize or praise -- they don't understand how hard this is, in the world of college basketball. We don't play every Saturday and [just] have an 11- or 12-game season. We play between 30 and 40 games, and there's a lot going on.

There are 13 games left on the schedule for the Wildcats to play in the Pac-12, more than enough to make up the half-game deficit between them and Utah. As long as it can focus on basketball and take it game-by-game, it will be one of the last few teams remaining come tournament time.

Similar to the perimeter shooting woes, the Wildcats have struggled at the charity stripe this season as well, shooting 67.4 percent and ranking seventh in the Pac-12 in that category.

Granted, that is still 1.9 points higher than Arizona’s accuracy last season, which was the least in the conference. But when the Wildcats currently lead the Pac-12 in free-throw attempts with 478—43 points higher than the next team—a better conversion rate would not hurt.

As a matter of fact, a missed free throw is exactly what led to Oregon State’s upset over the Wildcats.

Rondae Hollis-Jefferson missed the back end of two shots, which would have given Arizona a 57-56 lead at the time. Oregon State corralled the defensive rebound and set up the go-ahead basket and eventual game-winner for Langston Morris-Walker. Arizona converted just 18 of its 27 attempts from the line in that game.

Players like Brandon Ashley and Kaleb Tarczewski, who are both shooting in the 60 percents this season, need to find their strokes again and get back to the 70 percent rates they were at last season.

The 6’7” freshman has been every bit as good as advertised, if not better, for the Wildcats this season.

Stanley Johnson is currently averaging 14.8 points and 6.8 rebounds per game during conference play and is shooting 50 percent from the field and 80.6 percent from the free-throw line.

Apart from the opening game of the season against Mount St. Mary’s and the loss against Oregon State, Johnson has scored in double figures in every single game, topping with a 22-point performance against Colorado.

Johnson also displayed tremendous poise in the last game against Utah. Despite playing only 10 minutes in the first half due to two fouls and putting up zero points and zero rebounds, Johnson scored all 18 of his points and grabbed nine rebounds in the second half to propel the Wildcats to the 69-51 victory.

As Miller told AZCentral.com's Doug Haller, Johnson's production isn't what's normally expected of a freshman:

I have to remind myself sometimes that he's only 19 years old. But I think every time he's gone through these experiences, he's improved. He plays within the framework of our team very well. His attitude right now is great on a daily basis, and all of a sudden you watch him (collect) 18 points and nine rebounds in one half? There aren't many guys who can do that (against) Utah.

Johnson has been the sole constant in an Arizona squad that has seen its fair share of inconsistencies on the season. If he can continue these types of performances throughout the season, he can take the Wildcats deep into March.

The Pac-12 has been a bit tougher than most have expected this season with the emergences of Utah and Stanford, but the Wildcats are still the team to beat in the conference.

After seeing Arizona dominate Utah in what was the first matchup between two top-10 teams in the conference in the past seven years, it’s hard to make a case against the Wildcats.

Of course, Arizona has a big test coming up in the form of Stanford on Thursday night on the road. If the Wildcats can overcome it, they will have already earned at least splits with both the Cardinal and Utes, while at the same time putting pressure on those teams in their respective second meetings down the road.

When clicking on all cylinders, there are not many teams in the entire country, let alone the Pac-12, that can handle the Wildcats. As long as they can avoid any more mishaps like the loss to Oregon State and stay healthy, they can very well earn a top-two seed on Selection Sunday.