Arizona Wildcats Productivity Report: Tarczewski shows value in blowout

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Brandon Ashley slams home two of his 17 points yesterday (Fox Sports screen shot)

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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)

ARIZONA 86, WASHINGTON ST. 59
PRODUCTIVITY RATING
* — STARTERS
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Kaleb Tarczewski had 16 combined points in his last three games. He's got 17 tonight on 6-of-6 shooting.

— Arizona Sports 98.7 (@AZSports) February 16, 2015

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An informal poll placed last week on a much-populated Facebook page revealed the fans’ No. 1 concern is Arizona junior center Kaleb Tarczewski.

The majority was critical of Tarczewski’s overall contribution and his hand-to-eye coordination. The topic is also the talk of other sports mediums, including radio talk shows.

Arizona coach Sean Miller addressed the fans’ opinions last night after Tarczewski went 6-of-6 from the field with 17 points in an 86-59 rout of Washington State in Pullman, Wash.

“The coaches that play against us really admire and respect Kaleb,” Miller told Brian Jeffries during the postgame radio show on KCUB (1290-AM). “Sometimes as a fan you don’t know the game nearly as well. You think you do (and) you focus more on offense or points per game. But you don’t understand the amount of plays the center is involved in that affect winning — off the ball on offense, rebounding and team defense. Kaleb grades out at an A or A-plus in those areas all the time.

“Statistically it doesn’t always show up who he is. But when you take him off the floor you feel the difference. He was fantastic. And it was good for him to get six made field goals because he had lost his confidence over the last couple of weeks. But he got it back on this trip. We need him to score in and around the basket. We know he’s capable.”

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PAC-12 RPI RATING
Present RPI ranking of the Pac-12.
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The junior center has never produced more points in a weekend series on the road in his career. His 25 points in the two games at Washington and Washington State are more than what he had last year at the Oregon schools (24 points) or the Los Angeles schools (23).

He had more scoring opportunities playing alongside the potent Aaron Gordon, who drew plenty of attention in the paint, freeing up the big man. It’s no coincidence that in one of Brandon Ashley’s best games of his career — also 17 points yesterday — Tarczewski’s performance became more pronounced.

Ashley also drew critical responses from fans in the poll last week. Fans want him to be more aggressive. Taking 17 shots (making eight), pulling down eight rebounds and blocking two shots, like he did yesterday, indicates Ashley was quite the aggressive player.

Nothing like returning to McKale at 12am to find @iRocket3 waiting to meet us there #APlayersProgram

— Arizona Basketball (@APlayersProgram) February 16, 2015

Washington State power forward Josh Hawkinson, not a five-star recruit out of high school like Ashley or Tarczewski, has drawn more praise this season averaging a double-double in points and rebounds. Hawkinson was not a factor against Arizona yesterday with only six points and six rebounds in 21 minutes.

Tarczewski and Ashley became yesterday the 21st teammate combination from the same recruiting class to reach the 800-point plateau in their Arizona careers. Tarczewski, who has 805 career points, is tied at No. 72 with with Bill Davis (1966-68) on the Arizona scoring chart. Ashley is at No. 74 with 804 points.

If Tarczewski and Ashley continue to produce like yesterday they can join by season’s end the 15 sets of Arizona teammates from the same class with at least 900 career points.

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SEASON PRODUCTIVITY RATING
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ARIZONA PAC-10/12
PLAYERS OF THE YEAR:
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ARIZONA SCHEDULE/PRODUCTIVITY RESULTS
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He has also written articles for Bleacher Report and Lindy’s College Sports.