After his one season at Arizona, Josiah Turner is with his second Canadian team. Photo by Jason O. Watson-USA Today Sports

Former Arizona Wildcat point guard Josiah Turner, in his first season out of college, has moved on to his third pro team.

Turner, debuted Thursday night with the Summerside Storm of the National Basketball League of Canada. He was released from the league’s franchise in Halifax a few weeks ago, with coach Rob Spon saying, “Josiah just didn’t buy into my system. Josiah wanted to do what Josiah wanted to do.”

Turner played 16 minutes in the Storm’s victory over the London Lightning. He was 1 of 5 from the field, finishing with two points, but he did have eight assists in 16 minutes.

Turner, who left the Arizona program after his freshman season, played for a few weeks with a Hungarian team in September before asking out of his contract. He then signed with Halifax, which plays against Summerside on Friday night.

Turner, 20, still has plenty of basketball in front of him. Perhaps this new assignment will last longer than the 15 games Turner played with Halifax.

Josiah Turner is now looking for another shot, somewhere. Photo by Jason O. Watson-USA TODAY Sports

Point guard Josiah Turner, at 20 years old, has had a chance to play for the Arizona Wildcats’ and learn from coach Sean Miller en route to what everyone assumed would be an NBA career.

That didn’t work out, so then he planned to play for legendary coach Larry Brown at SMU. Another great opportunity.

The former five-star recruit changed his mind and turned pro, but then asked out of his deal with his Hungarian team in September after only a few weeks.

And now he has been released from the Halifax Rainmen of the National Basketball League of Canada, with coach Rob Spon telling the Halifax Chronicle-Herald, “Josiah just didn’t buy into my system. Josiah wanted to do what Josiah wanted to do.”

Twice suspended at Arizona and eventually dismissed by Miller after last season — later arrested on charges of extreme DUI — Turner keeps blowing through opportunities to get his career and life on track.

He talked to Metro Halifax in October about his immaturity as a freshman at Arizona.

“It was my first year in college and I couldn’t control all the girls and the parties and everything that was going on with that,” Turner said. “I was just a young man.”

Has he learned anything?

“Josiah’s just young. I’d call a set during a timeout I want run and he wouldn’t run it,” Spon said. “… Josiah just didn’t warm up very well. Coming to games, I see him sitting around, I yell and he just gives me attitude.

“During practice and games, it just wasn’t working.”

He was averaging 9.8 points and 3.7 assists for Halifax before being released.

Turner played for two high school teams as a senior, spent one year in college, committed to play for another school but never did, and has already been released by two pro teams.

The basketball vagabond will get another chance, somewhere, but the results will be the same unless he starts to grow up.

Has Josiah Turner taken his last shot for Arizona? Photo by Jason O. Watson-US PRESSWIRE

Arizona freshman point guard Josiah Turner will remain on suspension for the rest of the season, with his fate with the Wildcats to be determined after the season.

“It’s as much his choice as mine,” coach Sean Miller said at a news conference Monday afternoon.

Miller suspended Turner for an undisclosed violation of team rules before the Pac-12 tournament, where Turner missed three games. As Arizona opens as a No. 1 seed in the NIT on Wednesday vs. Bucknell, the Wildcats will continue with a combination of Jordin Mayes and Nick Johnson at the point.

“Josiah is done for the season, it doesn’t matter if we play one game or whatever it would take from this point on,” Miller said.

“I won’t elaborate beyond that just because when our season ends we will be able to take the next step and get on the same page with Josiah moving forward. That shouldn’t be interpreted as he will never play at Arizona again, but I know he won’t play this season again.”

This is Turner’s second suspension. He did not travel with the team to Florida on Dec. 7, and Miller also held him out during the third game of the season to send something of an attitude adjustment message.

Miller wouldn’t comment on the chances of Turner — rated the 10th-best recruit in the country last season by Rivals.com — being with Arizona next season.

“I’m not telling any player on our team that he doesn’t have the option to come back, but it’s more about the path Josiah wants to go from this point forward that will determine whether he’s at Arizona or whether he would choose to have a new beginning,” Miller said.

Turner, who started 17 games, averaged 6.8 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.4 assists. He was playing better later in the conference season, but Turner didn’t have the impact many thought he could have, based on his recruiting rankings. Turner made only 7 of 31 3-point shots.

“Obviously, I would have loved to have a start-to-finish season with no off-the-court incidents or suspensions. They never help,” Miller said.

Miller said he will meet with Turner after UA’s run in the NIT to discuss the player’s future with the program. There are certain things Turner would have to do to get back in his good graces, Miller said.

“He has to make the complete choice himself, that he wants to be here under the ways that we run the program, trying to do things in the classroom, on the court, off the court, a certain way,” Miller said.

“I’m not expecting him to be more perfect than any of the other 12 players on the team, but to just be like everyone else and follow the rules that we set forth.”

Josiah Turner struggled from the free throw line in the regular season, making 62.7 percent (64 of 102). Photo by Jason O. Watson-US PRESSWIRE

Arizona Wildcats point guard Josiah Turner is suspended again, which is a third strike.

Is he out?

At this point, the chance that Turner will never again wear the cardinal and navy (or special Nike “platinum”) seems like a very real possibility. Coach Sean Miller on Wednesday put the freshman on indefinite suspension for a violation of team rules on the eve of Arizona’s quarterfinal appearance in the Pac-12 tournament.

So, nice timing, Josiah.

“I am disappointed in Josiah for his actions,” Miller said in a statement.

“Unfortunately this suspension comes at a time of great excitement and opportunity for our team. However, the standards of our program will not be compromised under any circumstances. Hopefully, Josiah will learn a valuable lesson from this experience.”

This is the third time Miller has tried to deliver a valuable lesson to Turner.

The first was in the third game of the season, when Miller didn’t play Turner at all, using the bench as motivation. At the time, Miller said: “He’s trying to find his way from where he left high school … on and off the court, making good decisions, working hard every day.”

Said Turner of that discipline: “It made me realize what was going on, and that coach Sean Miller don’t play around.”

And, yet, Turner continued to play around.

He was suspended for a violation of a team rules and did not travel with the team to Florida on Dec. 7. Arizona lost in overtime. A win over the Gators sure would look good on the NCAA Tournament resume right about now.

From that point — Miller called it Turner’s “light coming on moment” — the freshman incrementally improved and regained his starting role.

He hasn’t been great. He didn’t make the All-Pac-12 freshman team. He is averaging a humble 6.8 points and 2.4 assists. He has made only seven 3-point shots, not as many as Jesse Perry, the undersized 6-7 center with the awkward jumper.

Turner hasn’t played like his high school recruiting rankings suggested — the second-best point guard and the No. 10 overall prospect by Rivals.com. He is laughably far away from those predictions that he would be a one-and-done player, using Tucson as a layover on his way to the NBA.

That says a lot about what you should read into recruiting rankings, but that’s a different story.

Mostly, Turner was becoming … how should we say this? … useful. Solid. Looking ahead, you could project that with time, work ethic and a good attitude he would become very good in all facets of the game, not just with clever entry passes into the lane on the pick-and-roll.

Alas …

Turner nearly has as many turnovers (60) as assists (70), and his biggest turnover might have been throwing away a chance to continue at Arizona rather than assisting his teammates in the postseason.

The reason for the latest violation of team rules hasn’t been disclosed, but Turner’s whole season smells like an over-inflated sense of entitlement — the kind of the attitude Miller has sought to eradicate from the program.

And now Turner isn’t even with the team in Los Angeles. A benching and two suspensions, the latest coming right before the most important game of the season? Yeah, that’s probably going over well with his teammates.

Miller has said Turner isn’t a “bad kid,” but the coach also isn’t the type to tolerate much nonsense, and Turner might have just overfilled the meter. And you wonder if Turner, who switched high schools halfway through his senior year, might have a wandering eye again.

On second thought, he might be one and done at Arizona after all.

Arizona fans pulled off a White Out vs. Washington for the second consecutive year. Photo by Chris Morrison-US PRESSWIRE

Josiah Turner sped down the court, the final seconds ticking away, Arizona trailing by two.

Dribbling down the right side of the court, he picked up a huge screen from Solomon Hill near the 3-point line to shed one Washington Husky, stepped inside another defender and reached for the hoop, ready to tie the game with a driving layup.

“It was an easy-looking layup,” said Washington’s Terrence Ross, “and I was worried.”

And then Washington’s Tony Wroten came flying in and swatted the ball away from the rim.

The Wildcats lost 69-67 on their White Out night at McKale Center in front of a national ESPN audience. Instead of getting a chance at overtime, Arizona lost a chance at a needed victory for its NCAA resume.

Worse yet, Arizona lost forward Kevin Parrom for the rest of the season because of a broken bone in his right foot.

“I told the guys, one of the things you learn in a situation like this is how important it is to stay together, to be connected, to continue to do the things we would do if we had won tonight,” coach Sean Miller said.

“That’s always that answer. It’s not as easy because criticism comes with losing, but we have a lot of good things going. I thought the last four minutes showed a lot of fight and resolve.”

Arizona trailed by 11 points with 5:43 to go, but Hill carried the Wildcats to the finish line. He scored 10 of his career-high 28 points after the Huskies led 60-49, capped by a game-tying 3-pointer with eight seconds remaining.

And then Turner made a freshman mistake.

Arizona clawed back with the help of a full-court press, and Turner was still in press-mode as he stepped in front of C.J. Wilcox in the backcourt. The players collided. Officials called a blocking foul on Turner.

“Of course, we don’t want to put ourselves in position to take the charge, but that’s all part of the comeback and a fast-paced frenetic couple of minutes,” Miller said.

After Wilcox made both free throws with 5.3 seconds left, Turner took the inbounds pass and executed a play that Arizona works on in late-game situations. As Miller said earlier in the week, Turner is going to be option “1A” in these kinds of scenarios.

“If you want to ask me if I should have called a timeout, I can’t call a better play than a 3-inch shot that got blocked,” Miller said.

“(Turner) made a great play. Drove it hard, had a chance to get a foul, had a chance to get an and-one, had a chance to make the shot. It didn’t work out, but it was good drive by Josiah.”

Nick Johnson dunked the rebound after Tony Wroten blocked Josiah Turner's last shot, but he couldn't beat the buzzer. Photo by Chris Morrison-US PRESSWIRE

Many things haven’t worked out this season for Arizona, often when it comes to the end of games.

The Wildcats lost by two at home to Oregon on Jan. 14, lost by one at Colorado a week later, and then had the Washington heartbreaker a week after that. UA is 0-4 in games decided by four points or less.

“It’s not about winning the close games,” Hill said. “It’s about us doing the little things, so it won’t have to be a close game.”

Washington is a tough matchup for the Cats. The Huskies have 7-footer Aziz N’Diaye in the middle, a defensive security blanket near the hoop. Washington’s perimeter players trusted him to affect drives into the lane while they stayed at home against Arizona’s 3-point shooters.

UA was a mere 4 of 13 from 3-point range one game after going 15 of 26 from behind the arc.

Long and rangy and athletic, Washington crashed the glass against the undersized Cats for 18 offensive rebounds.

“You really felt that in the game,” Miller said of the Huskies’ rebounding. “They were bigger, faster, more physical throughout the game. It wore us down.”

With the close losses and the injury to Parrom, you wonder if the Wildcats are worn down emotionally, too.

Just a few nights ago, Miller said there was a lot of basketball left to be played — and that the Wildcats, at that point, seemed to be surging.

But there’s not that much season remaining — just the back half of the conference schedule in the regular season — and the home stretch doesn’t seem so enticing with the Wildcats needing to make a run just to get into bubble range of an at-large berth in the NCAA Tournament.

The Wildcats’ RPI, which slipped to No. 72 last week, will only get worse after a home split against the Washington scores. Worse yet, the Cats are still without a signature victory, having gone 0-6 against teams with better RPI numbers — Gonzaga, San Diego State, Florida, Mississippi State, Oregon and Colorado. (Washington was No. 89.)

Life gets more difficult this week with a road trip to Cal and Stanford.

“We don’t have a big margin of error, and it’s been that way since day one,” Miller said.

“We have to have that pride where we can go on the road and steal one that maybe we’re not supposed to. Each loss can strip you of more and more confidence, but that’s our job to not let that confidence leave us.”

Pointed in the right direction? Sean Miller sees reasons for optimism. Photo by Chris Morrison-US PRESSWIRE

Arizona Wildcats coach Sean Miller, after a home loss to Oregon on Jan. 14, used his press conference opportunities to alternately blast his team’s effort and carelessness with the ball.

Neither has been a problem since then. Imagine that.

In the past three games, Arizona has played with passion and as if ball security were as precious as playing time. The Wildcats are coming off perhaps their most well-rounded game of the season Thursday night, an 85-61 victory over Washington State.

The Cats have won two of the past three games, with the loss at Colorado being avoidable if they had been merely awful from 3-point range rather than a horrific 3 of 20.

Hold the applause — considering the level of competition hasn’t been stellar — but the trends are moving in the right direction for Arizona, which is 14-7 overall and 5-3 in the Pac-12 heading into Saturday’s spotlight game against Washington.

“Teams hit their strides at different points,” Miller said. “My job is to get our team to hit that stride.”

Here’s a stride in the right direction:

Arizona averaged 15.2 turnovers through five conference games. The Cats have only 29 in the past three games.

“I was very clear that our team can’t become better unless we started to take care of the ball, not have the silly, senseless turnovers that we started this conference season doing,” Miller said.

“That’s the first step, I believe, to our team becoming a better team.”

So, the turnover situation is better.

Effort is at Arizona-good levels.

Defense, even for an undersized front line, has been a strength. Opponents are shooting 40 percent overall and 26.5 percent from 3-point range. Arizona entered the week ranked sixth nationally in 3-point defense.

“I’ve said this all along — and, really, no one cares when you lose — but we’re a good defensive team,” Miller said.

“We’ve played 21 games, against a lot of good offensive teams, and very few times have we lost because we haven’t been able to defend. Our problems have been more on offense. …

“Our offense has to keep climbing that mountain.”

That’s the X-factor.

Some nights the 3-pointers are going to fall. Some nights they’re not. Arizona can help itself by finding and taking good shots, but you never know how the roll of the dice is going to land.

Fun with numbers:

Arizona shot just 27.1 percent behind the arc in its seven losses. The Wildcats are draining 43.6 percent of its 3-point attempts in their 14 wins.

“When one guy starts hitting shots, we feed off each other,” said guard Kyle Fogg.

Said forward Solomon Hill on the team’s 3-point shooting: “Just got to stay with it. Like I tell Fogg all the time, ‘You’ve got to keep shooting.’”

On nights when the shots aren’t falling, Arizona doesn’t have a high-percentage recourse — no easy low-post scoring, especially against big front lines. But as long as the effort, defense and ball security is there, Miller should be able to squeeze as much as he can out of this team’s talent level.

And here are two more good trends: The play of junior forward Kevin Parrom and freshman point guard Josiah Turner.

When you look at the entire roster, these are the two players who can still make the most improvement — Parrom because he’s been recovering from leg injuries suffered in a Sept. 24 shooting, and Turner because his uneven adjustment to college landed him in Miller’s doghouse early in the season.

Parrom showed off his all-around game against Washington State — nine points, four rebounds, four assists and no turnovers. He has 27 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists in the past three games, increasing his minutes to just more than 20 per game.

“Kevin Parrom in my mind, in the last three games, played very similar to how he played last year, and we have been waiting a long time for that,” Miller said.

“He’s playing with more confidence, more physical, more sure of himself. He adds a different ingredient to our team when he is able to play like he’s capable.

“It’s come very slowly, but here we are in late January, and I’d like to think he is going to be with us in true form from this point on. That alone makes us a better team.”

Turner’s game Thursday night was sullied by two second-half technical fouls and an ejection, but he finished with nine points, four assists and one turnover in 20 minutes. He is averaging nearly 10 points in the last four games, better directing the offense and being aggressive in driving to the rim.

“He just works hard every day,” Miller said. “Josiah is really on an upswing right now.”

You can say the same thing about Arizona as it prepares for its ESPN close-up on Saturday.

Josiah Turner's ability to get to the hoop is one reason why he could succeed in late-game situations. Photo by Chris Morrison-US PRESSWIRE

It’s been a season-long question. Do the Arizona Wildcats have a go-to guy on offense?

They really don’t.

That was evident in the last game, at Colorado on Saturday. Arizona, down one point, worked the ball around … and worked the ball around … and worked the ball around — hey, somebody take a shot! — before Kevin Parrom ended up with the ball in his hands from behind the 3-point arc for a buzzer-beating shot.

It was an airball.

Not exactly how coach Sean Miller drew it up.

He indicated this week that he is, in a sense, going back to the drawing board in practice.

“I think I have to do a better job of building confidence and who’s going to take the last shot,” Miller said.

Ok, so, who’s going to be taking that last shot?

How about you, Josiah Turner?

The freshman point guard, who seemed lost on the court and in Miller’s doghouse off of it early in the season, has been making steady progress.

In the 11 games since he was left at home for the trip to Florida on Dec. 7 — the discipline serving as the “light coming on moment” for Turner, Miller said — the freshman has regained his starting spot and averaged 7.1 points and 3.0 assists per game.

He doesn’t always shoot a lot, but he has made at least 50 percent of his field goal attempts eight times in the past 11 games. He got to the foul line six times in each game of last week’s road trip.

He is averaging 10 points in the past three games. He’s also been much improved on defense, Miller says.

Don’t nominate him for Freshman All-American honors just yet, but Turner has earned enough of Miller’s trust to climb to the forefront of late-game responsibilities.

The coach is looking for someone who can create on his own and, if nothing else, get fouled.

“Josiah is really developing as one of those key players,” Miller said.

“It’s tough to give the ball to a freshman in that situation, but one of the things I believe with him having the ball is he can get fouled. He can beat his man and also he can make the pass. Although he’s not as good a 3-point shooter as some of the other guys, that might be our best bet moving forward.”

Miller said Turner could be option “1A” for late-game situations. Senior guard Kyle Fogg would be “1B.”

Gone are the days of just throwing the ball to Derrick Williams, or letting Nic Wise and Salim Stoudamire dribble with the ball up top, in position to take their man one-on-one, to use some recent examples. Really gone are the days of the clear-outs for Sean Elliott.

Three of Arizona’s past four games have been toss-ups in the final seconds. There will be plenty more of those in the next several weeks. No doubt, Miller needs a more cohesive approach to the end of games.

Maybe Turner is the answer.

Maybe we’ll find out starting Thursday night against visiting Washington State (8:30 p.m., Fox Sports Arizona).

“I’m just comfortable with the ball in my hands at the end of games. I feel like I can get to the line easy,” Turner said. “If he wants to put the ball in my hands at the end of the game, I’ll be comfortable with that.”

Josiah Turner goes up for a basket against Clemson. Photo by Chris Morrison-US PRESSWIRE

A third of the way through the regular season, Arizona Wildcats freshman point guard Josiah Turner hasn’t always made a positive first impression.

He lost his starting job after the first game, was benched for the third game, suspended for the ninth. He’s not, as some in the NBA Draft projection business extolled in the summer, headed to the NBA after one season.

Amid the rocky start, Turner was back on the court Saturday as the Wildcats defeated Clemson 63-47, the latest step in his adjustment to college basketball, to college life.

This does not appear headed to the same kind of case where freshman big man Sidiki Johnson was suspended indefinitely before deciding to transfer at the semester break.

Turner is a key part to any kind of success the Cats will have late in the season, and coach Sean Miller sounds like he still has faith that could happen.

“When you suspend a guy, sometimes unfairly he is put into a category that he’s a malcontent or a bad kid,” Miller said. “Josiah Turner is neither.”

Turner played 17 minutes against Clemson, scoring six points with five rebounds. On the other hand, he had five turnovers and only one assist — although it was a beauty, leaving a bounce pass to a trailing Nick Johnson on a fast break. Johnson finished with a two-handed dunk.

“I think you can see what he is capable of moving forward. It’s exciting,” Miller said.

“He’s had a great attitude over the last two or three days, which is really telling in that he wants to do this, wants to be here. More importantly, it’s him understanding that it’s nothing against him; we’re just trying to help him.”

Turner has not been the immediate impact point guard that everybody hoped for, that Arizona craved, after losing MoMo Jones to a transfer.

He is averaging 7.1 points, 1.7 assists and 2.7 rebounds. He isn’t a 3-point threat, hitting just 2 of 14. He sometimes has trouble finishing drives after he gets into the lane.

But his presence allows Miller to split the point guard position between Turner and sophomore Jordin Mayes, allowing Johnson to thrive at the shooting guard position, his natural spot.

“As long as Josiah and Jordin are a part of what we’re doing, Nick is going to be best off the ball,” Miller said.

Junior forward Solomon Hill, one of the team’s leaders, admitted that “Josiah threw us for a loop” when he was suspended for the Florida game.

“You see how much more fluid the offense is when Josiah is there,” Hill said.

Hill said talked to Turner even before the Florida game about what is at stake this season.

“Just to say, ‘We’re trying to do something big here, and for you to be a part of it, you have to change some daily habits — maybe wake up and get to a class on time or maybe come to a practice and get ready.’

“I think he’s buying into it now.”

Miller, too, sounded upbeat.

“I hope that not playing in the Florida game does nothing but inspire him, get him on the right track,” Miller said. “And I hope that together we never look back.”

Josiah Turner is averaging 7.1 points in seven games. Photo by Chris Morrison-US PRESSWIRE

They are Josiah Turner’s own words. Three games after riding the pine for all 40 minutes against Ball State, the Arizona Wildcats freshman was asked what he had learned.

“It made me realize what was going on and that coach Sean Miller don’t play around,” Turner said.

Yeah, coach Sean Miller don’t play around.

He already had to suspend freshman center Sidiki Johnson, who then announced his transfer on Monday. And, now, comes more trouble for Turner.

The school announced Tuesday night that Turner has been suspended for Wednesday night’s game at Florida because of violations of team policy. Turner missed practice, according to a tweet from Jeff Goodman of CBSSports.com

On Monday, Miller talked about how Turner had been making progress on and off the court since the early season “attitude adjustment.”

He even talked that there was “no question” Turner had a chance to regain a starting spot from sophomore Jordin Mayes, who has started the past seven games after Turner started the two exhibition games and the season-opener.

Then, in words that were prophetic, Miller added this caveat:

“I hope he continues to grow. Today is a new day. We haven’t practiced yet, so we’ll see how that goes today. And then we’ll wake up tomorrow and check to see how that goes tomorrow.

“It’s every day. Those are the expectations at Arizona. It’s not every other day, or once every three or four days, that you do a great job in practice. It’s who you are every day that allows everybody to trust you — your teammates, your coaches.

“That’s not just for one player in our program, that’s for everybody.”

Turner is averaging 7.1 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.7 assists and 21.3 minutes in seven games. He has the same number of turnovers (12) as assists. He is shooting 37.5 percent overall (15 of 40), including 2 of 14 from 3-point range.

Miller said in a statement from the school on Tuesday night: “Josiah will not play in Wednesday’s game at Florida. We will meet with him when we return to campus to discuss what his obligations to this program are moving forward.”

Arizona certainly needs all the help it can get against 12th-ranked Florida, which might have the best corps of guards in country, Miller said. The Cats will go with a combination of Mayes and freshman combo guard Nick Johnson at point guard.

Miller said he has been disappointed in Mayes’ ability to distribute; he has only five assists in 154 minutes.

While Mayes, an excellent shooter, tries to become a more well-rounded point guard, Turner appears to have work to do in terms of gaining (re-gaining?) the trust of his teammates and coaches.

“We care a lot about Josiah. It’s not like he’s a bad kid. He’s a great kid,” Miller said after Turner sat for Arizona’s 73-63 victory over Ball State on Nov. 13.

“He’s trying to find his way from where he left high school … on and off the court, making good decisions, working hard every day.”

And if you don’t … well Miller don’t play around.

That was Nick Johnson bringing the ball up court and calling out plays, not Josiah Turner. Photo by Chris Morrison-US PRESSWIRE

Freshman point guard Josiah Turner did not start Sunday against Ball State. That didn’t seem to be much of a big deal, considering Jordin Mayes started the last game and scored 19 points.

The first sign that something was amiss came in the first few minutes, as freshman Nick Johnson came in the game, not as a shooting guard but as a point guard alongside Kyle Fogg.

No Turner.

In fact, there was no Turner for the entire game.

He wasn’t hurt. He wasn’t suspended. Call it a coach’s decision.

Call it coach Sean Miller delivering a message.

“We care a lot about Josiah. It’s not like he’s a bad kid. He’s a great kid,” Miller said after Arizona’s 73-63 victory over Ball State at McKale Center.

“He’s trying to find his way from where he left high school … on and off the court, making good decisions, working hard every day. Sometimes, especially very, very early in someone’s career, if they don’t play, it’s a feeling they haven’t had before.”

And they probably don’t want to have that feeling again.

Turner was the most highly touted of Arizona’s four freshmen, but none of that matters now. Miller even went on a rant a few weeks ago about websites and such that proclaim certain recruits to be one-and-done players to the NBA. Turner has been included among those with that kind of talent, and he has received plenty of preseason freshman accolades.

Key word: Preseason.

Turner started both exhibitions and the season opener against Valparaiso, but he has looked out of control at times. He wasn’t able to finish drives to the hoop and his jumper certainly wasn’t falling. He was 1 of 7 from the field through two games, including 0 of 3 from 3-point range.

“I hope we can get him in the fold and he can develop,” Miller said.

“We’re trying to help him. Hopefully, he can help himself and keep working and get back out there.”

Miller pointed to freshman center Sidiki Johnson as an example. Johnson has been in the doghouse while working on his practice habits and poor on-court decisions. Johnson played four minutes in the second half Sunday; not a lot, but consider that he played only one total minute in the first two games.

One of the first things Johnson did Sunday was chase down an offensive rebound and go up strong to the basket.

That’s more like it.

“He is getting better and it was nice to put him in there,” Miller said.

“We went through the same thing with him (as with Turner). Everybody anoints young players as they’re going to be in college for a year or two. Each one of these guys has their own process to work through.”

Nick Johnson, who moved from shooting guard to backup point guard without much notice, did a credible job. He played 24 minutes, sometimes playing with Mayes, and scored nine points. He had one assist and two turnovers.

Previously, Miller said he did not want to burden Johnson with having to learn two positions this early in his career.

“It’s a transition, definitely,” Johnson said.

“Basically, that was the first time I ever played it. AAU ball doesn’t really count. … I want to be on the court and help my team, so I told Coach I wanted to try to play the two positions. I stressed to him I think I can handle it.”

If nothing else, Arizona now has more position flexibility with Nick Johnson being able to play the point.

As for how much and how much longer, that might depend on how Turner responds.