At times Saturday, Arizona looked like a team full of young players that was playing its first true road game of the season early in the morning. The 12th-ranked Wildcats weren't able to find a rhythm on offense throughout the day against No. 18 Baylor and it resulted in UA's first loss of the season.
The Bears forced UA to play a different style than they have been used to this season leading to the lowest scoring output of the year for Sean Miller's team in a 63-58 loss for the Wildcats.
Arizona (9-1) was able to keep the game close in the second half by connecting on 21 free throws over the final 20 minutes when its shooting from the field went cold. However, Baylor (7-1) continued to stay out in front with some timely shots despite its own issues on the offensive end of the floor to ultimately pull out the victory.
Both teams combined to make just 12 shots in the second half on a day when the offenses were mostly cold.
"We didn't play well enough to win," UA head coach Sean Miller said during his postgame radio interview. "Offensively, 14 for 52 from the floor, 27 percent, 2 for 18 from three and I think Jemarl [Baker Jr.] hit one of the last ones but 2 for 18 from three. One of the things we did do well is we got to the line 34 times and we converted 28 of them, which is a very good stat for us especially being that we were on the road."
Many of the issues that have led to close games for Arizona this season have followed a similar pattern. There have been too many turnovers mixed in with some less-than-stellar defense against perimeter shooters and a lack of good tempo on offense plus poor shot selection. Saturday's game featured a mix of all those things at certain points throughout the day.
"Kind of the same story line for us, though," Miller said. "The 11 turnovers at the half really hurt us whether the shots were going in or not. You can't make a shot you don't take, and a number of those 11 turnovers fueled an open three or coast-to-coast drive in the first half. It was a big reason we were down by 11 points and had only 24 points in the first half. To our team's credit we were much better in the second half and that's why we were a better team.
"We only turned the ball over five times in the second half. We had a number of guys that didn't necessarily play well on offense. Sometimes you think you get good looks and maybe you didn't, but we clearly have to get better. The problem with us right now is when we're in transition and the ball is going in that's when we're at our best. We want to play with tempo, but no matter what anybody thinks when you play against a good team on the road and the college basketball season grows the early shots aren't going to be as plentiful nor are they going to be as open.
"Too many times when you take quick, ill-advised shots you almost put that in the category of a turnover. You have X number of those plus 15 turnovers and then you don't have your typical night when you get a couple good ones next thing you know you end up with 58 points."
It wasn't all bad for Arizona, however, as the Wildcats were able to impact the game defensively in the second half when UA was able to work a double-digit lead down to just one point. Like the Wildcats, Baylor had some lengthy scoring droughts and Miller credited his defense for playing a part in that.
"Today our defense was as good as it's been," he said. "We played against three really terrific guards. The fact is in the second half ... they were 6 for 27 from the field, 1 for 11 from three and 15 of 19 from the line which some of those came at the end there. Our defense was certainly good enough and we also forced 16 turnovers. They are a team that doesn't turn the ball over and I think we made some real strides in that area."
Freshman Nico Mannion led the Wildcats with 15 points and despite missing practice time during the week he ended up playing a team-high 37 minutes Saturday. The UA point guard has been battling back soreness recently and Saturday he tweaked his knee in the second half, but he still led the team with five assists and was a perfect 8 for 8 from the free-throw line. Still, not having Mannion or fellow freshman Josh Green, who was dealing with strep throat this week, at practice the entire week is something Miller said impacted how his team looked Saturday.
"We had a number of guys not practice through the week and you can never ever feel good about that," he said. "And, there's just too many parts to our game today that reflected a choppy week of practice when you consider who played in the game and who practiced. That's something we also have to address."
UA will be back in action Wednesday night when it faces Nebraska Omaha at 6 p.m. MST at McKale Center.
