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ARIZONA WILDCATS EDITIONE ARIZONA DAILY STAR | SUNDAY, JANUARY 5, 2020 | PAGE AB1 E X T R A Editor: Ryan Finley | 520-573-4312 | [email protected] NO. 25 ARIZONA 75, ARIZONA STATE 47 MESSAGE RECEIVED KELLY PRESNELL / ARIZONA DAILY STAR Arizona guard Josh Green dunks to end a fast break in the Wildcats’ 75-47 win over visiting Arizona State on Saturday night at McKale Center. UA hadn’t played a game in 14 days. Rested UA runs ASU off court in 28-point win By Bruce Pascoe — a miss — after Miller said before in double figures with Mannion ARIZONA DAILY STAR UP NEXT the game that he could make the PAC-12 STANDINGS and Dylan Smith adding 10 points Stop taking silly shots. Feed • Who: No. 25 Arizona (11-3, 1-0) case that anyone shooting 32 per- Team Conf. Overall each, while 10 total players scored. Zeke. Don’t foul so much. Re- at No. 4 Oregon (12-3, 1-1) cent should never take such a shot Colorado 1-0 12-2 They were fast, but not too fast bound. • When: 7 p.m. Thursday (Green was hitting 32.5% from 3). Stanford 1-0 12-2 for Miller’s liking. Play for Arizona, not yourself. • TV: ESPN or ESPN2 Instead, Green picked up his USC 1-0 12-2 “We want to play at a fast tem- On and on and on came Sean • Radio: 1290-AM, 107.5-FM points where he gets them the Arizona 1-0 11-3 po … it makes sense with Nico Miller’s messages, to the media best, on the break. He scored eight Oregon 1-1 12-3 and the team that we have,” Miller and to his team over a long two- of his 12 points after halftime Utah 1-1 10-4 said. “But one of the things that week break that started after the freshman big man responded with while UA took advantage of many Washington State 1-1 10-5 we’ve gone through is you can Wildcats lost three of four games 17 points on 7-for-11 shooting and fast-break opportunities: He went UCLA 1-1 8-7 play at a fast pace, and sometimes to finish nonconference play. 11 rebounds. uncontested coast-to-coast after Oregon State 0-1 10-3 shoot yourself in the foot. Taking But in a 75-47 win over ASU Miller’s messages were sent, he rebounded a missed Sun Devil Washington 0-1 10-4 challenged 3s, and ignoring some- at McKale Center on Saturday in and received. free throw, and later made a fast- Arizona State 0-1 9-5 body that’s very efcient around their Pac-12 opener, at least for “Yeah. Definitely,” guard Josh break layup after Nico Mannion California 0-1 6-8 the post (in) Zeke. one night, the Wildcats turned Green said. “When you have stole the ball and threw it to him. “I think that it’s up to us to mostly into that team. someone like Zeke as the four After that play, Nnaji then cre- Saturday’s games: Arizona 75, ASU make good decisions. You have to While they hit just 4 of 15 man, not many people are his size, ated his own assist, stealing the 47; Washington State 79, UCLA 71, take the good early opportunity 3-pointers, the Wildcats avoid- height or strength, so it’s a big ball from Remy Martin, the guy OT; Oregon 69, Utah 64 but when we didn’t take that to- ed taking many of the ill-advised factor for us guards in getting him who led the Sun Devils to a season Sunday’s games: Oregon State at night, we ran better ofense, and shots Miller had been upset about, inside. It creates for our a whole sweep of the Wildcats last year, Colorado, 4 p.m. (ESPNU); USC at we were more balanced. And we hitting 47.6% overall while scor- ofense — obviously he’s gonna then dunking it in to give UA a 63- Washington, 8 p.m. (FS1) have a team of guys on ofense that ing efciently on the break and bully his player down and if they 37 lead with 7:24 left. can do a lot of things.” through Zeke Nnaji inside. double, it brings it out for the pe- That was pretty much how it While the Wildcats fouled more Arizona scored 25 fast-break rimeter players.” went all night. The Wildcats were over a month, and increased pro- than Miller would like — Green points and gave Nnaji the ball so Green responded by collect- motivated and efcient, getting duction from freshman center even picked up a second-half he could take more shots than any ing 12 points and seven rebounds forward Stone Gettings back from Christian Koloko. other UA player, and the efcient while taking only one 3-pointer head injuries for the first time in Overall, UA had four players See BASKETBALL, AB2 Cats play with energy and toughness after break, wreck Sun Devils or two weeks — Arizona’s Martin had just five points when longest in-season break the Wildcats expanded their F without a basketball game lead to 30 points on Saturday. since 1944-45 — the Wildcats sat Ordinarily, Martin is one of the and stewed, troubled by an unex- Pac-12’s leading players, a ball of pected December decline, its only basketball fire. victory in 34 days coming against Greg Hansen But on Saturday all the fire Nebraska-Omaha. came from Sean Miller’s team. What was this, 1983? And have you ever seen a more Even Ben Lindsey’s ill-fated, its ability to shoot straight — the awe-inspiring alley-oop dunk 4-24 UA team of 1982-83 had a Sun Devils entered Saturday’s than the one from UA freshman better December, winning three game ranked No. 279 nationally Christian Koloko as Arizona built times before losing at home to in 3-point shooting and 203rd in its lead to 30 points? Illinois Wesleyan and efectively foul shooting. It was that kind of a redemptive igniting a search that led to Lute And just like that the Sun Dev- night at McKale. Olson. ils missed their first six foul shots Miller used the unusually long This time the UA’s December — who ever does that? — went 1 break as a trouble-shooter. He descent didn’t trigger a search as for 9 from 3-point distance and made clear what he expected from much as it led to a resolve that it trailed 36-17 at halftime. each of his seven first-year play- couldn’t play much worse than it So frustrated was ASU coach KELLY PRESNELL / ARIZONA DAILY STAR ers — “clarifying roles,” he said — did in losses to Baylor, Gonzaga Bobby Hurley that he snapped his Arizona center Chase Jeter tries to force his way along the baseline and one of those corrections was and St. John’s. hands together to call a time- against Arizona State forward Romello White in the first half. getting freshman Zeke Nnaji more It led to a collective commit- out with 51 seconds left in the involved in the ofense. ment that if nothing else it could half, exasperated. It wasn’t that night than ASU were the New coming of the bench. We didn’t Even Miller admitted he play harder and smarter, start to Arizona played so well, it’s that England Patriots. really have in inside presence.’’ “probably could’ve done a better finish, than it did in December. the UA’s energy and toughness “When we go 3 for 21 from the No inside game. No outside job” running more of his club’s Into this trap walked Arizo- — two elements often missing in 3-point line, this is what we’re game. No chance. ofense through Nnaji in the first na State, itself reeling from a December — kicked in. looking at,’’ said Hurley, who After scoring 58 points against 13 games, but better late than 40-point loss to St. Mary’s, a bit Arizona won 75-47. The only was impressed by Arizona’s size. Arizona in a rare two-game sweep shy on size and worried about team in America to have a worse “They had an army of big guys last year, Sun Devils guard Remy See HANSEN, AB2 ARIZONA WILDCATS EDITIONE ARIZONA DAILY STAR | SUNDAY, JANUARY 5, 2020 | PAGE AB2 E X T R A Editor: Ryan Finley | 520-573-4312 | [email protected] SEEN AND HEARD AT MCKALE CENTER Dalen Terry in town Future Wildcat Dalen Terry was in attendance for Arizona-ASU and sat behind the UA’s bench. The 6-foot-7-inch Terry is a four-star wing from Tempe and a senior at Phoenix Hillcrest Prep. Terry was Arizona’s first commit and signee of the 2020 recruiting class. Sean Miller normally has high-priority recruits in attendance for games when McKale Center is rocking. Last year, Nico Mannion and Josh Green were in the same seats as Terry’s. A one-on-one with Walton The UA honors an active duty solider or a veteran every game, an introduction that invariably leads to a standing ovation from the McKale Center faithful. Even by those standards, Saturday’s introduction of Gwen Niemi was special. The 99-year-old Ofcer Candidate School graduate pushed a walker to midcourt and, as the cheers rose, appeared to become emotional. Then she did a little dance, walked from midcourt to press row and found ESPN analyst Bill Walton.