Tucson Citizen.com

Steve Rivera Ventures

UA looks flat in Oklahoma; Coach Miller disappointed

by on Dec. 06, 2009, under Sports

No contest. Which means: no surprise in Norman, Okla., on Sunday night.

The Arizona Wildcats played scared and lethargic.  It was painfully obvious.

UA coach Sean Miller said his team played with no confidence and didn’t have a lot of poise. Not a shock given it was the team’s first true road game – on an opponent’s home court – this season.

Miller in his post-game radio interview said at least two things clearly hurt UA.

One was the team lacked “confidence.’’ “That really showed,’’ he said, “but that’s to be expected early on and (yet) is somewhat of a surprise when you consider some of the games we’ve already played.’’

UA has been close in most of its games, but is on 3-4 on the season. It returns home on Wednesday to face Louisiana Tech at 9 p.m.

Miller also said he didn’t think his team played hard on every possession. “We’re a team learning how to play hard,’’ he said. “I thought we had several guys not giving great effort. It’s something we need to address.’’

Nothing seemed to work for Miller, although he tried.

He even did something I have advocated for some time: if the starters don’t’ come ready to play from the tip get them out of there. He did a little of that early, calling a timeout 89 seconds into the game and replacing some players. And he went deep, too, playing 10 players early and more players late.

At least he tried. The players? Well, it’s hard to tell.

“I don’t think we played with the effort level we needed to win,’’ Miller said. “Or even to play a game overall.’’

Miller said it’s his job and his coaching staff’s job “to fix.’’

“You can win and lose with the same guys,’’ Miller said, “(and) for us it’s getting the right people on the court who are going to give maximum effort and at the same time not be unselfish.’’

Oklahoma, a team still searching for an identity, put away the Cats early. By the nine minute mark you knew it was over. OK was better than OK with a 20-9 lead. By then, you knew the Cats’ youth was history. Maybe there was hope at 29-19 but that was dashed by halftime when the Sooners had a 44-26 lead.

Start the bus. Miller, by his moves and substitutions, probably felt that right away. He also continues to say it’s early and the team is “very much in the building process.’’

He added: “We have a long way to go as a team. We certainly have a long way to go as a program.’’

Again, shooting was a problem. UA shot just 44 percent, with leader Nic Wise going 6 for 14 from the floor. He had just three assists. Lamont Jones continued to struggle, going 0 for 4 from the floor in 14 minutes. Jamelle Horne had 13 points and five rebounds, but no one else had any sort of impact.

It could be the theme for a while.

Steve Rivera can be reached at Steve.Rivera95@gmail.com. Visit SteveRiveraventures.com.

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 6th, 2009 at 7:28 pm and is filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

RSS feed for this post (comments)
  • Bruce

    Momo is turning out to be a major recruiting mistake.   This is a player Louisville thought was not good for their program.  

  • Mark Johnson

    Bruce – give MoMo a break.  7 games into a college career and you want to throw the kid under the bus. I see sublte improvement each game from him. It will take some time. I will tell you who I am very dissapointed in right now is Horne. He should be stepping WAY up and basically has not shown up. Where is that leadership?

    Bottom line, this is going to be a very good team… next year.  I think we can take the streak stress off of them at this point and just let them grow.

  • Bruce

    After seeing so many big mindless errors in the past, the thought that Horne could be a consistent leader is nonsense.  That does not mean he cannot be a solid contributor for the remainder of this season and next.  

    MoMo is a joke.  He has way too much attiude for his individual game.  Can you name the last freshman a Arizona who has been given more rope on the basketball court yet has been more unproductive than MoMo?  If so, please tell me. 

    Miller’s offensive and defensive sets are too confusing for these young lads.  The team needs to play more zone.  The team needs to get D. Williams  more touches. 

    BTW:  Pastner how been very impressive this year at Memphis.  Besides the team’s strong play on the court, he is bringing the number 1 recruiting class into his program regardless that Calipari placed a cloud over this program.  Could this be another blunder from Livengood?  Was Pastner ready to takeover the program?

     
    Are Calipari and Miller cousins? 

  • Mark Johnson

    Bruce – to much judgement after only 7 games and 1 true away game. Miller has stated on the recored, just about every time he talked pre-season and now that the season has started; they really are going to need a year. As much as the fans want to will this team better, it is just not going to happen.

    This team will be good in 2010 and good to great in 2011. Unfortunately, 2009 will be as painful year. The two years of life sucked out of this program left Miller not a lot to work with. But you can see greatness in Williams. Get Hill a bit more involved, recuit the other Hill, bring in Daniel, 2011 should be back to contention.

    Also note – Arizona has played some solid teams so far; Pac looks to be much softer. Should be build some confidence.   

    • Bruce

      You are the type of fan that accepts medocrity.  Lute did not build a program to accept defeat prior to the season even starting.  Miller backed into 3 recruits.  He brought in 2 guys on his own which 1 is a non starter and the other has been hurt.  The team is 0-4 against teams that have a chance to dance in March.  

      The current results are not something that impresses me.  We have a different set of expectations.  Are you a person that accepts that Livengood was a solid AD for Arizona? 

  • DayTheMusic(Dancin’)Died

    “You can win and lose with the same guys,’’ Miller said, “(and) for us it’s getting the right people on the court who are going to give maximum effort and at the same time not be unselfish.’’

    Who wants it more than a freshman who’s out to prove he belongs each time he hits the hardwood…the court…the field of play?

    Lavender, Fogg, Horne and Wise have been less than stellar, less than their class, less than leaders, less than Fightin’ Wildcats so far.

    Dance Card No. 26 is more than likely out the window now, so why not play for the future…2010 and beyond?

    Start or play at length the freshmen and let the chips fall where they may.

    PG Hill/Jones

    SG Judkins (know he’s a soph. but he’s earned his time)/Jones

    SF Shumpert (another seldomly used soph. but one who’s made the most of his time on the court and what more does this team, program have left to lose?)

    PF Williams/Kyryl

    C Kyryl/Williams

    When frosh. Parrom returns and this can’t – cannot – happen soon enough…

    PG Hill/Judkins/Jones

    SG Judkins/Jones/Hill

    SF Shumpert/Hill

    PF Parrom/Williams/Kyryl

    C Williams/Kyryl/Parrom

     

    • steveriveraventures

      Day the music, good stuff. Keep the observations coming. Bruce always does a good job in his insights and game knowledge. Good discussions. We’ll see what happens but this team needs some spunk about now. Can’t remember the last time I used the word spunk. Must be getting older….

«
»