Coming into the season it was clear there were going to be some nights when Sean Miller had to have a little more patience with his team. Tuesday was one of those nights as the Wildcats struggled early against Montana before eventually gaining control late in the game to earn a 70-64 victory over the Grizzlies at McKale Center.
UA (6-1) went down by as many as eight points in Tuesday's game and truly never built a comfortable lead until the final few minutes when a corner 3-pointer from freshman big man Azuolas Tubelis put the team up by eight points with 2:44 left on the clock.
Up until that point there were a lot of frustrations for the Wildcats as their struggles from the free-throw and 3-point lines continued. Miller was visibly upset on a number of occasions as his team lacked energy in its first game back from a road trip to California over the weekend that resulted in a loss to Stanford.
However, Arizona chipped away at a seven-point halftime lead with some impressive play by leading scorer Jemarl Baker Jr. to eventually even up the score in the second half. A layup and followed by a quick dunk from Bennedict Mathurin gave UA a lead with 8:29 left to play gave the Wildcats a four-point lead that they would never relinquish.
Getting to that point in the game wasn't easy and could have been made easier if the Wildcats shot the ball better, especially early, but simply seeing some progress coming off Saturday's loss helped make the night feel a little more positive for Miller and his team.
"Montana did a good job early in the game of scoring on us," the UA head coach said. "Early in the game we couldn't make a free throw, so you look at the scoreboard you have to keep in mind we went there four times and missed all four. I think we started off 0 for four, 0 for five. So, that's part of our slow start.
"... Our defense was better in the second half. I felt like we wore them down a little bit, and that happens with man to man. It's like the running game in football. You can't just judge the running in the first quarter or first half. Sometimes as the game wears on you can really break it open, and our man-to-man defense got better as the game wore on and I thought we defended them pretty well."
Point guard James Akinjo led the Wildcats with 18 points and five assists in a bounce-back game for redshirt sophomore after he struggled Saturday against the Cardinal on a 2-for-9 night from the free-throw line. He knocked down all six of his free throw attempts in Tuesday's game and also led the team with two 3-pointers.
Miller said his starting point guard is never lacking confidence when he steps on the floor, but it certainly was a better performance in the win over Montana than what he put together over the weekend in California.
"I just wanted to stick with it, stay aggressive and try to get the best shot possible every time down," Akinjo said of his response Tuesday night after the loss to Stanford in which he only scored seven points. "In basketball you're gonna have tough nights. You can't let that change your approach. U just wanted to come in and do the same thing I always do."
One change Miller decided to make with his personnel was getting Tubelis on the floor to start the game. The freshman has been providing the Wildcats with some production off the bench, but as he continues to take steps forward in his development the UA head coach thought it was the right time to make a change. So, sophomore big man Christian Koloko, who has been struggling to start the season, was moved to the bench allowing Tubelis an opportunity to work alongside Jordan Brown in the front court.
"I think it gives us more of a scoring punch," Miller said about the move. "It allows Jordan Brown to guard the five man which, as we learn our team, I think Jordan is much more fluid, much more sure of himself, I think it helps his offense when he guards the other team's five.
"Certain games maybe we can slide him over, but Azuolas can do a lot of different things and we see his progress right now almost on a daily basis."
Tubelis finished his first start eight points, three assists and a team-high nine rebounds. Brown had 15 points and six rebounds for the Wildcats in the win.
The Wildcats will now take some time off to regroup before reeling off 19 conference games starting with a matchup against Colorado next Monday.
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