Arizona’s productivity against Colorado on Thursday in a semifinal game of the Pac-12 tournament was one of only six times the Wildcats have cracked the .700 mark in a game this season.
Four such games, including the one against the Buffaloes, occurred in Pac-12 games.
The other three games were at Stanford (.725), ASU (.765) at home, and at UCLA (.735).
Can Arizona pull off another productive game against the Bruins after having a rating of .525 in the loss to the Bruins at McKale Center two weeks ago?
It’s going to take the widespread production Arizona experienced against Colorado. Six of the nine players who played against the Buffaloes had a productivity rating of .600 or better, led by Dusan Ristic (1.238), Lauri Markkanen (1.034), Kadeem Allen (.792), Allonzo Trier (.765), Rawle Alkins (.741) and Parker Jackson-Cartwright (.600).
UCLA no doubt will throw another 3-2 zone at Arizona, like it did in its 77-72 win in Tucson. The Bruins will dare Arizona to beat them from outside.
The Wildcats will have to shoot the way they did from 3-point range like they did against Colorado to make it happen. Arizona made 10 of 19 shots from beyond the arc against Colorado and that seemed to loosen the Buffaloes’ defense.
If Arizona is able to shoot over the zone and make a good percentage of shots, its productivity should take off.
This is the 3-point shooting percentage in Arizona’s four Pac-12 games above .700 this year:
Against Stanford: 71.4 percent, 10 of 14
Against ASU: 42.9 percent, 9 of 21
Against UCLA: 45 percent, 9 of 20
Against Colorado: 52.6 percent, 10 of 19
That’s zone-busting production. At least nine 3-pointers in each of those games with a percentage better than 40 percent.
“We know what to do (against the zone),” Allen said. “But as a team, we get away from it sometimes. We’ll hit threes and feel that’s what it is. We just have to get the ball to the low post, penetrate, get the ball to the paint, and good things will happen for our team.”
The confident inside-outside action and reaction will be the difference against UCLA, which is bent on showing it can play defense to support its potent offense.
“Defense is what we’ve focused on the last couple of months,” UCLA guard Bryce Alford said. “It’s been on the rise. I’ve always said we’re not a team that’s going to shut you down all game. That’s just not our personnel. It’s not the style of basketball we play but as long as we can get that stops that we need when we need them … I think that’s what we’ve been doing a lot better job of.”
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
[table sort=”desc”]
Player,Pos,G,S,PP,MIN,PR
Lauri Markkanen,PF,32,32,770,975,.790
Allonzo Trier,SG,13,8,310,403,.769
Dusan Ristic,C,31,31,506,731,.692
Rawle Alkins,SF,32,31,524,895,.585
Kadeem Allen,SG,29,28,441,870,.507
Chance Comanche,C,32,2,292,599,.487
Parker Jackson-Cartwright,PG,26,10,286,646,.443
Kobi Simmons,SG,32,19,348,839,.415
Keanu Pinder,PF,30,0,137,385,.356
AVG 5-9.9 MIN,,,,,
None,,,,,
AVG 1-4.9 MIN,,,,,
Kory Jones,G,3,0,5,6,.833
Tyler Trillo,G,7,0,-1,29,-.034
Jake DesJardins,G,6,0,-2,11,-.182
Paulo Cruz,G,7,0,-5,20,-.250
TOTAL TEAM,,32,,3611,6400,.564
[/table]
PRODUCTIVITY REPORT
ARIZONA PAC-10/12
PLAYERS OF THE YEAR:
[table sort=”desc”]
Name (Year),G,S,PP,MIN,PR
Derrick Williams (2011),38,38,1190,1141,1.043
Sean Elliott (1989),33,33,1128,1125,1.003
Chris Mills (1993),28,28,838,870,.963
Sean Elliott (1988),38,38,1167,1249,.934
Damon Stoudamire (1995),30,30,964,1092,.883
Mike Bibby (1998),35,35,905,1124,.805
Jason Terry (1999),29,29,877,1107,.792
Nick Johnson (2014),38,38,848,1254,.676
Total,269,269,7917,8962,.883
[/table]
PREVIOUS GAME
ARIZONA 92, COLORADO 78
PRODUCTIVITY RATING
* — STARTERS
[table sort=”desc”]
Player,Pos,PP,MIN,PR
*Dusan Ristic,C,26,21,1.238
*Lauri Markkanen,PF,30,29,1.034
*Kadeem Allen,SG,19,24,.792
*Allonzo Trier,SG,26,34,.765
*Rawle Alkins,SF,20,27,.741
Parker Jackson-Cartwright,PG,18,30,.600
Chance Comanche,C,2,14,.143
Keanu Pinder,PF,2,15,.133
LESS THAN 10 MIN,,,,
Kobi Simmons,SG,-2,6,-.333
TOTAL TEAM,,141,200,.705
[/table]
ARIZONA SCHEDULE/PRODUCTIVITY RESULTS
*-Honolulu
**-Las Vegas
***-Los Angeles
****-Houston
[table sort=”desc”]
Date,Opponent,W/L,Score,PR,Productivity Leader,Pos,PP,MIN,PR
11/11,*Michigan St,W,65-63,.395,Kobi Simmons,SG,22,26,.846
11/15,CS Bakersfield,W,78-66,.560,Lauri Markkanen,PF,48,36,1.333
11/18,Sacred Heart,W,95-65,.805,Dusan Ristic,C,31,22,1.409
11/21,N. Colorado,W,71-55,.565,Parker Jackson-Cartwright,PG,35,34,1.029
11/24,**Santa Clara,W,69-61,.510,Keanu Pinder,PF,12,12,1.000
11/25,**Butler,L,69-65,.390,Lauri Markkanen,PF,17,21,.810
11/30,Texas So.,W,85-63,.705,Lauri Markkanen,PF,35,29,1.207
12/3,***Gonzaga,L,69-62,.420,Dusan Ristic,C,17,23,.739
12/6,Cal-Irvine,W,79-57,.635,Dusan Ristic,C,32,30,1.067
12/10,at Missouri,W,79-60,.556,Rawle Alkins,SF,27,37,.730
12/14,Grand Canyon,W,64-54,.450,Dusan Ristic,C,19,31,.613
12/17,****Texas A&M,W,67-63,.545,Dusan Ristic,C,27,26,1.038
12/20,New Mexico,W,77-46,.680,Chance Comanche,PF,25,23,1.087
12/30,California,W,67-62,.410,Dusan Ristic,C,27,28,.964
1/1,Stanford,W,91-52,.725,Rawle Alkins,SF,36,29,1.241
1/5,Utah,W,66-56,.530,Dusan Ristic,C,29,26,1.115
1/7,Colorado,W,82-73,.580,Lauri Markkanen,PF,28,22,1.273
1/12,ASU,W,91-75,.765,Lauri Markkanen,PF,42,30,1.400
1/19,at USC,W,73-66,.490,Lauri Markkanen,PF,34,35,.971
1/21,at UCLA,W,96-85,.735,Kobi Simmons,SG,34,33,1.030
1/26,Wash.St.,W,79-62,.640,Allonzo Trier,SG,26,25,1.040
1/29,Washington,W,77-66,.575,Dusan Ristic,C,19,24,.792
2/2,at Ore. St.,W,71-54,.545,Allonzo Trier,SG,25,28,.893
2/4,at Oregon,L,85-58,.365,Rawle Alkins,SF,27,28,.904
2/9,Stanford,W,74-67,.575,Allonzo Trier,SG,38,33,1.152
2/11,California,W,62-57,.420,Kobi Simmons,SG,18,23,.783
2/16,at Wash. St.,W,78-59,.565,Lauri Markkanen,PF,36,33,1.091
2/18,at Washington,W,76-68,.510,Lauri Markkanen,PF,47,35,1.343
2/23,USC,W,90-77,.635,Rawle Alkins,SF,23,17,1.353
2/25,UCLA,L,77-72,.525,Allonzo Trier,SG,46,38,1.211
3/4,at ASU,W,73-60,.540,Rawle Alkins,SF,22,26,.846
3/9,**Colorado,W,92-78,.705,Dusan Ristic,C,26,21,1.238
[/table]
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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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