BOULDER, Colo. — Sean Miller repeated the same theme over and over, during answers to 12 different questions at his postgame media session Saturday.
The Wildcats didn’t play hard. They didn’t play together. And he said he couldn’t get through to them.
Maybe that was the bottom line in UA’s 80-77 loss at Colorado, but Miller might have also been pointing obliquely to some specifics.
Among them:
• Without being asked a word about McKinley Wright, Miller praised the Colorado freshman point guard three different times for his confidence, physical strength and playmaking. Wright had 16 points and 10 assists, but also seven turnovers.
“McKinley Wright, for such a young kid, it’s amazing, you can just see in his face how he plays,†Miller said, pivoting from an answer to a question about Colorado’s court storm.
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“He’s just that special player who can make his teammates better. Usually you say that about an older guy, but for such a young player that’s a great characteristic. You can really feel that when you play Colorado.â€
While UA point guard Parker Jackson-Cartwright had eight assists to only one turnover and four steals, the Wildcats shot just 38.4 percent overall as a team.
• Miller also praised Colorado seniors George King and Dom Collier, again without being asked about them or the Buffs in general. King had 11 rebounds from the wing but shot 2 for 8 from the field. Collier, freed up from most point guard duties this season because of Wright’s presence, hit 5 of 7 shots for 14 points, with two assists and no turnovers.
“George King, I’ve watched him develop,†Miller said. “He’s one of those guys who represents college basketball in such a good way, a senior, paid his dues, plays hard and always has. Those guys (also including Wright) and Collier had a good game today.â€
Of UA’s veterans, Jackson-Cartwright was 0 for 6 from the field, Allonzo Trier was 3 for 9 and uncharacteristically did not get to the free-throw line at all, while Dusan Ristic was 6 for 16 from the floor.
• Another Colorado player Miller singled out was freshman center Dallas Walton, who averaged just 4.2 points and 14.5 minutes entering Saturday.
Walton had 15 points on 7-for-7 shooting, the most field goals without a miss since Xavier Johnson went 7 for 7 against Oregon in 2012-13.
“Their freshman big guy — they don’t depend on him a lot for scoring — but he was just really ready for the game,†Miller said.
“Seven for seven from the floor — that’s a big reason why they won. He played hard, played with a lot of energy. I credit Colorado, they had a good crowd. They played hard and had a lot of energy.â€
ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥â€™s freshman big guy, Deandre Ayton, came on late to finish with 26 points, but his five rebounds were less than half his average (12.1) coming into the game.
Of UA’s other freshmen, wing Brandon Randolph was scoreless in 11 minutes, while guard Alex Barcello shot 0 for 2 with no assists in five minutes.
Emmanuel Akot had three points and a steal in six minutes and Ira Lee had two points and two rebounds in nine minutes.
• Normally having a similar philosophy to ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥â€™s pack-line defense, Colorado instead threw out mostly a zone defense. Miller said the Wildcats’ inefficiency against it was probably due most to a lack of togetherness.
“We probably took some ill-advised shots, but if you’re playing with great energy and togetherness, a really high level of effort on defense, it’s tough for that group of five to go on the offensive end and just take any shot,†Miller said. “Those two things don’t go together.
“If you have that team that really struggles to give effort and energy on defense, it’s very easy and almost makes perfect sense that that same group would take ill-advised shots and really that’s what Colorado’s zone did.
“It baited us into not playing together, not moving it. In the second half, if you really evaluate us against the zone … got a lot of good looks, some of which we missed. But that really wasn’t the problem today.â€
ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥â€™s 38.4 percent shooting Saturday included 7 for 25 3-point shooting (28.0 percent). Only once since its 0-3 showing in the Bahamas (25.0 percent against North Dakota State) have the Wildcats shot lower than 32 percent from 3-point range.
• Akot played six minutes , but Miller didn’t rave about him as he did in the preseason, when he said Akot was a potential defensive stopper in the mold of Rondae Hollis-Jefferson.
“He did a good job. He did a good job,†Miller said, then fielded another question.
ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ allowed Colorado to shoot 64.3 percent in the first half and 54.7 percent for the game.
It was the second-highest-shooting percentage the Wildcats had allowed all season, trailing only the 57.4 percent Purdue shot in the Boilermakers’ 89-64 destruction of the Wildcats in the Bahamas on Nov. 24.
• Miller said the Wildcats can’t just out-talent anybody. “This game was tough and the next game is gonna be tough,†Miller said. “Oregon State’s coming off a big win (against Oregon). We just don’t overwhelm you, one through 10.
“Believe it or not, we have to play hard, play with confidence, play with togetherness like a lot of great teams, or a lot of teams, do in this country. And that’s really missing with our team.â€
For Saturday’s game, Colorado started a lineup that (according to ) had two players rated as four-star prospects out of high school, plus Wright (three), King (two) and Walton (not rated). It has no five-stars, but two four-star reserves (Collier and D’Shawn Schwartz).
ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ started three five-star players (Ayton, Trier and Rawle Alkins) plus a four-star (Jackson-Cartwright) and a three-star (Ristic). Akot is the fourth five-star prospect on the Wildcats’ active roster while Randolph, Lee and Barcello were four-star recruits.
