As the season has progressed, Arizona has steadily improved taking care of the basketball.
The general thought is keeping the turnovers down is a significant element for advancing to the Final Four for the first time in 16 years.
The Wildcats averaged 12.5 turnovers a game against non-conference opponents. That number was reduced to 10.6 during the Pac-12 season.
In the postseason, including the Pac-12 tournament, the number is 10.2.
Sean Miller’s accepting of no more than 12 turnovers, so Arizona is meeting that goal.
In the NCAA tournament wins over North Dakota and Saint Mary’s, Arizona had seven and nine turnovers, respectively.
Parker Jackson-Cartwright has 17 assists with only five turnovers in the postseason. Kadeem Allen has 10 assists and 10 turnovers in that span.
In past NCAA tournaments, it is interesting to note that point guards limiting their turnovers was not always essential for Arizona to reach the Final Four.
Four of the best point guards to play for Lute Olson — Steve Kerr, Damon Stoudamire, Mike Bibby and Jason Gardner — led the Wildcats to the Final Four but not all had sterling assist-to-turnover ratios in the NCAA tournament.
Kerr had the best ratio by far with 22 assists and only four turnovers in the 1988 tournament.
Bibby had the worst, actually having more turnovers (24) than assists (20) in Arizona’s title run in 1997. He had eight turnovers in the championship game against Kentucky’s full-court pressure defense under Rick Pitino. That’s ironic because Bibby’s cool temperament and efficiency forced Pitino to abandon the press in the second half of that game.
Stoudamire had 27 assists and 19 turnovers in the 1994 tournament. He had five turnovers and four assists in the Elite Eight victory against Missouri.
Gardner compiled only 15 assists in the six games Arizona played in the 2001 tournament. He had 10 turnovers.
Allen has one assist and three turnovers after the first two tournament games. Jackson-Cartwright had five assists and two turnovers.
Stoudamire had 10 assists and nine turnovers after Arizona’s first two tournament games in 1994. Bibby had three assists and four turnovers in the first two games in 1997.
What these point-guard greats did instead of gaudy assist-to-turnover ratios (other than Kerr) was make clutch shots and free throws, serve as a captain on the court, played within the team concept, and stepped up on defense when necessary.
The most important characteristic: They kept coming at the opponent strong no matter the numbers.
That’s the kind of confidence Miller needs the most from Allen and Jackson-Cartwright heading into tonight’s Sweet 16 matchup with Xavier.
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,36,36,876,1101,.796
Allonzo Trier,SG,17,12,423,537,.788
Dusan Ristic,C,35,35,561,799,.702
Rawle Alkins,SF,35,34,563,977,.576
Kadeem Allen,SG,33,32,514,994,.517
Chance Comanche,C,36,2,326,671,.486
Parker Jackson-Cartwright,PG,30,10,322,746,.432
Kobi Simmons,SG,36,19,350,866,.404
Keanu Pinder,PF,34,0,141,418,.337
AVG 5-9.9 MIN,,,,,
None,,,,,
AVG 1-4.9 MIN,,,,,
Kory Jones,G,4,0,5,7,.714
Tyler Trillo,G,8,0,-1,31,-.032
Jake DesJardins,G,7,0,-2,12,-.167
Paulo Cruz,G,8,0,-7,21,-.333
TOTAL TEAM,,36,,4111,7200,.571
[/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 69, SAINT MARY’S 60
PRODUCTIVITY RATING
* — STARTERS
[table sort=”desc”]
Player,Pos,PP,MIN,PR
*Dusan Ristic,C,15,18,.833
*Allonzo Trier,SG,22,31,.710
*Lauri Markkanen,PF,23,37,.622
*Kadeem Allen,SG,17,36,.472
*Rawle Alkins,SF,8,27,.296
Parker Jackson-Cartwright,PG,6,22,.273
Chance Comanche,C,3,18,.167
LESS THAN 10 MIN,,,,
Kobi Simmons,SG,-1,6,-.167
Keanu Pinder,PF,-1,5,-200
TOTAL TEAM,,92,200,.460
[/table]
ARIZONA SCHEDULE/PRODUCTIVITY RESULTS
a-Honolulu
b-Las Vegas
c-Los Angeles
d-Houston
e-Salt Lake City
[table sort=”desc”]
Date,Opponent,W/L,Score,PR,Productivity Leader,Pos,PP,MIN,PR
11/11,a-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,b-Santa Clara,W,69-61,.510,Keanu Pinder,PF,12,12,1.000
11/25,b-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,c-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,d-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,b-Colorado,W,92-78,.705,Dusan Ristic,C,26,21,1.238
3/10,b-UCLA,W,86-75,.665,Lauri Markkanen,PF,37,32,1.156
3/11,b-Oregon,W,83-80,.550,Allonzo Trier,SG,33,37,.892
3/16,e-N. Dakota,W,100-82,.825,Rawle Alkins,SF,38,29,1.310
3/18,e-Saint Mary’s,W,69-60,.460,Dusan Ristic,C,15,18,.833
[/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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