New look Wildcats hold off Chico State in exhibition tip
If you’re a college basketball coach, you couldn’t have dreamt up a better exhibition game than the one played between Arizona and Chico State at McKale Center on Friday night. Arizona’s 74-65 victory came with a lot of valuable lessons Sean Miller and his staff can use to continue to rein in a team that has eight new players on the roster.
Despite Arizona holding 23-17 rebounding edge, Chico State led 33-32 at the half on the strength of six 3-pointers and 13 points off nine Arizona turnovers. In fact, the Wildcats didn’t start to create any real separation until a 3-Ponter by graduate transfer Max Hazzard lifted Arizona to a 44-40 advantage. Hazzard’s make brought some life to the usually raucous home crowd, which helped Arizona elevate its defense and build enough of a cushion to fend off the pesky, talented Division II foe.
Leading by six and the possession arrow in Arizona’s favor, Stone Gettings dove to the floor to force a tie up after Dylan Smith deflected a pass on the defensive end of the floor. On Arizona’s ensuing possession, Chase Jeter capped off a three-point play with a nifty post move on the low block and free throw to stretch the lead to nine. Less than three minutes later, an elbow jumper by Hazzard was followed by a Smith steal and coast-to-coast score for Arizona’s first double digit lead of the game.
Still, Chico State persisted, and that’s the good news for Arizona.
Of course, there were plenty of mistakes that will have to be corrected, but winning 74-65 is not bad news. An empty the bench blowout would’ve served Arizona very little. The Wildcats needed to struggle, they needed to feel some heat, and they needed to gain an understanding of what a quiet home stadium sounds and feels like when things aren’t going so hot.
All of this happened Friday night in Tucson.
Bigger picture, the Wildcats will officially open the season at home to Northern Arizona next Wednesday. They then host Illinois on Sunday. Clearly, they’ll need to play better to win those games, but tonight’s tip will help in ways only Miller and his club can truly understand.
Here’s a breakdown of some of tonight’s game themes:
The Closeout
In general, not good unless your name is Josh Green. The McDonald’s High School All-American and true freshman guard/forward is absolutely the real deal. I say this because his defensive instincts are that of a more veteran collegiate athlete. What makes Green special is his motor and commitment to playing hard on the defensive end of the floor. He’s big, he’s strong, and most importantly, his lateral quickness is legit. As for everyone else, there’s work to be done when closing out on the perimeter. Chico State was 10-for-25 from behind the arc, with a majority of those looks uncontested or, at best, partially contested. I say this because when you are closing out on a jump shooter, it’s not about getting to the player. It’s about getting to and up and into the player with the ball. Once a jump shooter sets their elbow on a shot attempt, unless the defender somehow blocks the shot, simply throwing your hand up is completely useless and way too late. When Miller says close out on a shooter, he means chase the shooter off the 3-Point line. Make the shooter take a dribble, make them hesitate, make them lean off balance, do anything to get them out of pure shooting rhythm. Arizona did none of that tonight expect when Green was on the closeout.
Points off Turnovers
Chico State had 13 points off nine Arizona turnovers in the first half. The good news is Arizona flipped the script in the second frame. First, Arizona didn’t allow a single point off their own turnover after intermission. Second, the Wildcats produced 13 points off seven Chico State turnovers, while only committing three of their own turnovers on the offensive end of the floor.
Positioning
Despite a wealth of new players taking the floor tonight, Arizona’s positioning on both ends of the floor was actually pretty good. Where Arizona struggled most of the night was actually finishing off possessions. Offensively, the Wildcats were getting open looks. However, they were missing a ton of open shots and worse, finished the game a lowly 4-of-17 from deep. Defensively, Chico State shot 45% from the floor, which is way too high. A big reason was Arizona struggled to defend the slip screen almost all game, and had a hard time defending the dribble drive and kick out. These are both concerning, but for a relatively new team it’s obvious all the new players have bought into what Miller is selling and understand what the Wildcats are trying to achieve at both ends. Once they get more comfortable as a team, there’s enough talent across the roster to start putting the hurt on opponents.
Toughness
I think Arizona’s going to be a very physical team this year. However, we only saw subtle signs of it tonight. Aside from Jeter playing through contact all game, Ira Lee securing 14 rebounds, and the aforementioned Green being physical on both ends, there were only a few minutes where I felt Arizona was getting down and dirty on the defensive side of the court. Hazzard, Baker, Gettings, and Smith had a few defensive highlights combined, but Chico State was basically able to get the ball to anyone on the floor at any time far too often. That won’t fly against Arizona’s non-conference opponents. The Wildcats need to push the opposing offense higher out into the perimeter, deny easy wing passes, and again, fully close out on shooters.