Because the 蜜柚直播 Wildcats scheduled only a Saturday home game with Baylor this week, guard Brandon Williams and his teammates have a little extra time to finish up finals, work on their games and just chill out.
鈥淚t helps us a lot,鈥 Williams said Wednesday. 鈥淲e can rest and recover, and we鈥檙e back at home Saturday, so that鈥檚 going to be fun, knowing we don鈥檛 have to go all the way to UConn or Alabama.鈥
There鈥檚 only one problem with all this extra time: It also allows them to keep stewing over that 76-73 loss at Alabama on Sunday.
And you can probably guess who鈥檚 stewing the most.
鈥淏y far out of the 10 games we鈥檝e played, that was our worst performance, if we just grade ourselves,鈥 UA coach Sean Miller said Wednesday at his weekly news conference. 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 have the wherewithal, the will, the energy, the discipline sometimes to be good enough on defense.鈥
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Miller expressed particular disappointment with transition defense in the first half and defensive rebounding in the second half.
In the final 5:13 of the Alabama game, the Wildcats did play efficient defense 鈥 through the first shot. They held Alabama to 1-for-7 field goal shooting over that span, but only managed one defensive rebound (from Ryan Luther) on those six misses.
Alabama then converted its five offensive rebounds into 10 points: a dunk, 3-pointer and 5 of 6 free throws.
鈥淎t the end of the game our defensive rebounding left us, when we really needed to get a stop or one or two key defensive rebounds,鈥 Miller said. 鈥淲hen you don鈥檛 foul and get them to miss a shot but don鈥檛 rebound, that鈥檚 really what breaks your back.鈥
Not surprisingly, then, Miller said he鈥檚 using some of the extra time to work on both areas this week. Rebounding is a particular concern, since Baylor grabs its missed shots back 35.1 percent of the time, the 38th-best offensive rebounding percentage in Division I.
Miller said he was hoping to get more on the glass from sophomore forward Ira Lee, who is averaging just 13.9 minutes but leads the team in offensive rebounding percentage by collecting 9.5 percent of missed shots when he鈥檚 on the floor. Lee averages 3.8 rebounds a game overall.
鈥淗e鈥檚 somebody who is part of the solution to our rebounding,鈥 Miller said of Lee. 鈥淲hen we get outrebounded, it鈥檚 harder for us to win, and when we rebound with equal or more, the chances of us winning really increase. The difference in the Alabama game with three rebounds was the difference in the game.
鈥淲e鈥檙e emphasizing it, talking a lot about it and the same thing with our transition defense.鈥
Sounds basic, but true.
蜜柚直播 guard Brandon Randolph (5) jostles with UTEP forward Paul Thomas (1) as the two try to corral a rebound in the first half of their NCAA basketball game at McKale Center, Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018, in 蜜柚直播.
Allowing late second shots against Gonzaga and Auburn in the Maui Invitational also led to quick downward spirals for the Wildcats in those games, Miller noted.
蜜柚直播 trailed Auburn 28-22 at halftime, and just 50-48 with 10:14 left when the Tigers grabbed not one, but two offensive rebounds on one possession before finally making a two-pointer to go ahead by four. They kept expanding the lead, with Horace Spencer later converting an offensive rebound into a dunk that made it 60-51 and the Tigers wound up winning by 16.
A day earlier against Gonzaga, the Wildcats鈥 late efforts on the glass were even more costly.
蜜柚直播 was trailing the Zags just 67-65 with 6:55 to go, but failed to rebound five of Gonzaga鈥檚 misses from that point on 鈥 and the Zags turned them into 11 second-chance points, including four shots in the paint and a 3-pointer from Josh Perkins.
鈥淲e鈥檝e watched it, we鈥檝e talked about it, sometimes the best reminder is a loss,鈥 Miller said of the rebounding problem. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot to be learned about the Alabama game. Unfortunately, we took a loss in a game in which either team could have won.鈥
Transition defense hasn鈥檛 been as much of a consistent problem, Miller said, though it was glaringly noticeable against Alabama because of the Tide鈥檚 personnel.
鈥淚t really left us for most of the game and playing against a team like Alabama that has multiple guys in transition, you kind of feed into what they鈥檙e good at and that鈥檚 what they did,鈥 Miller said. 鈥淭he big burst in the first half when they opened the game up by as many as 19 points, that stemmed from a lot of baskets they got before the defense was set up.鈥
Part of playing better transition defense, Miller added, is also playing more careful offensively.
鈥淲hat ignites a lot of transition opportunities is poor play on offense, lack of execution, a turnover, a quick shot that鈥檚 a bad shot,鈥 Miller said. 鈥淲e had a few of those things happen which puts more pressure on your transition defense. And on the road, that鈥檚 even more important because dumps and transition flurries ignite the homecourt crowd, and it starts to work against you.鈥
For their next five games, though, the Wildcats will have their homecourt crowd behind them, starting Saturday against Baylor.
By then, they鈥檒l also be done with finals.
There鈥檚 no doubt that鈥檚 something both they and their coach will be happy about.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a very difficult week with time management,鈥 Miller said. 鈥淲e have to make sure each of our guys are sure of themselves, are taking care of things and have the time needed to be successful away from the court.鈥
