Nick Johnson finding his groove again at right time

ARIZONA PRODUCTIVITY RATING
[table “” not found /]

GLOSSARY:
G: Games played. S: Number of starts.
BP: Bench points. A player gets three points if he is first off the bench, two if second and one if third. Shows Sean Miller’s rotation.
ASU: Productivity points against ASU
AMIN: Minutes played against ASU
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)
TMIN: Minutes played overall
PR: Productivity rating per minute played (Productivity points divided by minutes played)
NOTE: Player must average at least 10 minutes a game to be listed in primary rotation

Nick Johnson has turned up his productivity significantly in the last two games

LAS VEGAS — When Kaleb Tarczewski tried to take a charging foul and instead took a knee to the stomach, Nick Johnson turned to the large Arizona crowd at the MGM Grand Garden Arena and raised his hands for them to cheer.

Johnson was not suggesting they cheer for Tarczewski getting the wind knocked out of him in the second half of Arizona’s 79-69 win over Colorado. He wanted them to chant “Zeuuuuus” — Tarczewski’s nickname — and they did. Loud. And they also cheered.

Johnson obviously has his swagger back and that translated to a team-best 29 productivity points in 35 minutes. In the UA’s victories over ASU and Colorado in the last two games, Johnson has posted 57 productivity points in 71 minutes (a productivity rating of .803. His season productivity rating stands at .582.

“I think I’m now just getting in my groove, getting back, you can say,” Johnson said. “I took it personally (after struggling against Colorado in five previous meetings). I wanted to play well and hit my open shots.”

Johnson, a sophomore, ended his personal slump against Colorado by making six of seven field goal attempts, including both attempts from three-point range. In his five previous games against the Buffaloes, Johnson made only 9-of-28 field goals, 4-of-22 from three-point range.

TUCSONCITIZEN.COM PAC-12 TOURNAMENT COVERAGE
— Arizona’s Nick Johnson considers another shot against UCLA “great blessing”
— Lying Lyons? Arizona point guard takes nine 3s again; good thing he did (Anthony Gimino)
— Sweat over swagger: Arizona Wildcats establishing play-hard mentality (Gimino)
— McKale on The Strip? Arizona fans look to ‘take over’ Pac-12 tournament (Gimino)

Kaleb Tarczewski no longer considers himself a freshman

As far as Tarczewski is concerned, he said he is fine after Colorado’s Andre Roberson inadvertently kneed him in the stomach on the play with 16:29 left in the second half.

He had only four points and five rebounds in only 23 minutes but that was a result of Colorado going with a smaller four-guard lineup after post player Josh Scott got in foul trouble in the first half.

When asked about his development overall — Tarczewski was an honorable-mention selection for the Pac-12 All-Freshman team — he said that he no longer considers himself a freshman.

“I’m starting to get my feet under me,” Tarczewski said. “I don’t really watch other post players. I watch myself a lot after practice. I break down film and see where I can improve. That really helps me out, whether it’s not dipping the ball or getting in the right position.

“A lot if it is more about confidence and getting a feel for the game with increased speed. Everyone else is doing a good job getting me the ball in position for me to score.”

UA PLAYERS WHO RANK IN TOP 20 CAREER SCORING AND TOP 10 CAREER REBOUNDING [table “” not found /] Hill is 27 points from No. 20 career scoring leader Joe Noels, who had 1,409 points from 1976-80. He is 10 rebounds shy of No. 10 career rebounding leader Jordan Hill (no relation), who produced 763 from 2006-09.

Solomon Hill is two games shy of his first Pac-12 Tournament title Arizona has lost the last two conference tournament championship games on the last possession and the Wildcats have not won a title since 2002. They also lost in the 2005 championship game to Washington. The Wildcats are two games away from achieving that elusive goal. “it would mean everything to me (to win the title),” Arizona senior Solomon Hill said. “It would mean everything to me to really end with a win here and be able to cut down the nets and wear the hats and the T-shirts.”

Hill’s seven rebounds led Arizona. The Wildcats were out-rebounded by Colorado 33-31 but UA coach Sean Miller was pleased with the Wildcats’ toughness.

“When you have those similarities and qualities,” Miller said of Arizona’s matchup with Colorado, “and then you play really, really hard and play to win, many times the game plays itself out like it did here today.”

Defensive Rebounding Percentage (DRB%): Determined by dividing Arizona’s defensive rebounds (19 against Colorado) by the opposition’s offensive rebounds (13) added to Arizona’s defensive rebounds (19) — 19/(13 + 19) = 59.4 percent.

Offensive Rebounding Percentage (ORB%): Determined by taking Arizona’s offensive rebound total (12) divided by that total (12) and the defensive rebounds of the opponent (20 for Colorado) — 12/(12 + 20) = 37.5 percent.

Ideal marks are 72 percent DRB% and 38 percent ORB%.

Site publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner

[rps-paypal]