Intensifying what Sean Miller talked about Thursday night about Arizona’s rebounding, or lack thereof, the Wildcats’ double-double production is few and far in between this season.
Miller’s team has only seven double-doubles with only six regular season games remaining after the Wildcats produced 23 last year, 17 of them by Ryan Anderson, who averaged a double-double (15.3 points and 10.1 rebounds a game).
Lauri Markkanen, who tops Arizona with 7.3 rebounds a game, leads the Wildcats with three double-doubles, followed by Dusan Ristic (two), Rawle Alkins (one) and Chance Comanche (one).
Now, can too much stock be put into double-doubles?
Yes, because Miller would not mind seeing his guards get their share of rebounds, reducing what the frontcourt players might grab.
But is it a good thing to see a guard such Allonzo Trier lead the Wildcats in rebounding with seven against a Stanford team the other night that is bolstered by the frontcourt duo of Reid Travis and Michael Humphrey?
Travis had a double-double with 26 points and 11 rebounds while Humphrey pulled down 10 rebounds. Their 21 rebounds in 65 minutes were more than Arizona’s four frontcourt players combined (Markkanen, Ristic, Comanche and Keanu Pinder). They finished with an inexplicable 15 rebounds in 80 combined minutes.
With these glaring numbers what Miller is looking at the most is what players give the Wildcats the most energy with their rebounding and all-out hustle.
Markkanen’s rebounding numbers overall justify his performance. Ristic? He needs to step it up significantly. He comes off as passive when it comes to rebounding more often than not. He has three games of double-digit rebounds but an alarming seven games with less than five.
A 7-foot center who is starting in the Pac-12 should not have that many disappearing acts.
Ivan Rabb, who is 6’11”, enters tonight’s game averaging 10.9 rebounds. He has 13 double-doubles including a 16-point and 16-rebound performance against Arizona in a 67-62 loss on Dec. 30.
He has 15 games of double-digit rebounds and only one game with less than five boards. The only time he had less than five was four against Cal-Davis on Dec. 10 and that was because the Golden Bears were well ahead (winning 86-61) and he played a season-low 24 minutes.
Can Ristic answer the bell tonight?
WHAT IS PRODUCTIVITY RATING?:
PP: Productivity Points (Points, assists, rebounds, steals, blocked shots, FGs made, FTs made added together and then subtracted by missed FGs, missed FTs, personal fouls and turnovers)
MIN: Minutes played overall
PR: Productivity rating per minute played (Productivity points divided by minutes played)
SEASON PRODUCTIVITY RATING
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PRODUCTIVITY REPORT
ARIZONA PAC-10/12
PLAYERS OF THE YEAR:
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PREVIOUS GAME
ARIZONA 74, STANFORD 67
PRODUCTIVITY RATING
* — STARTERS
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ARIZONA SCHEDULE/PRODUCTIVITY RESULTS
*-Honolulu
**-Las Vegas
***-Los Angeles
****-Houston
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon.
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