Sean Miller proud of Arizona overcoming challenges in difficult season
Arizona's season came to an end Monday night.
The Wildcats previously announced that they would not be participating in the postseason after self-imposing a ban for this year. So, UA's season came to an end with an 80-69 loss to Oregon. It marked the seventh straight loss to the Ducks for Sean Miller's team, but there weren't long faces after the final buzzer.
Instead, there was a sense of accomplishment having just wrapped up a challenging season that featured injuries and growing pains all within the backdrop of a worldwide pandemic.
UA knew its season would be ending early but that doesn't diminish how highly Miller thinks of his team because of all that it had to go through this season. He often praised his players for remaining diligent and sticking to the COVID-19 protocols this season that allowed the Wildcats to play all but one of their 27 allowed games.
He continued to praise his group after Monday's loss.
“This is the 17th team I’ve had as a head coach, and I’ve never been prouder of a group of guys than I am of this year’s team,” Miller said. “We entered the year with 10 new players, three returners that played in games a year ago. ... Throw in COVID and how hard that’s been on every team, and certainly we’ve had some good fortune, but to never get shut down one time from the first day of school till the last game of our season I think you have to give the players a lot of credit.
“You’re not gonna be able to do that unless they’re disciplined and following the protocols that were set forth. We had 80 practices, you always have certain practices that are better than others, but this is a group of guys that really gave us everything.”
UA played the entire season without freshman big man Daniel Batcho who was kept off the floor by knee surgery. Fellow freshman Kerr Kriisa only played in a handful of games over the last month after awaiting clearance by the NCAA because of an eligibility issue. The Wildcats also lost veteran guard Jemarl Baker Jr. for the season to a wrist injury after he jumped out to a strong start and was leading the team in scoring when he went down.
Arizona racked up 17 wins and nine losses this season and will finish the regular season in the middle of the Pac-12 standings after going 11-9 in conference play. For Miller it is about looking on the bright side of things this season and he feels like the group satisfied what he was hoping to accomplish in a difficult year.
“You always wanna do better, but I have the peace of mind that we battled hard in all 26 games,” he said. “The fact that we sit here with 17 wins I could make a strong argument that it could’ve been a lot worse based on where we were in August.”
Miller often credited his players for being able to wake up early to get tested to ensure that they would be able to play games throughout the season. It was not an easy task to make it through the season without major disruptions, but the Wildcats did and the players certainly feel accomplished by what they were able to show no matter how challenging it was at times.
“It was a really long season,” junior point guard James Akinjo said after Monday's game. “It was real difficult. Some of the things that we were stripped of like playing in front of our crowd at McKale or playing in front of any crowd it was really tough. Getting up every morning, every single day having to COVID test, having to sacrifice even being with your friends for this right here it was tough. But, I would do it all over again and I’m glad that all my guys made the sacrifice.”
In addition to his players, Miller also made mention of his staff after Monday's game and not just the coaches sitting on the bench next to him. He applauded everyone who is part of his program that helped his team reach the finish line even noting that trainer Justin Kokoskie spent more than two dozen nights sleeping at McKale Center to ensure the team was safe to keep moving forward along the way.
“We have a great group, so I tip my hat to them because it hasn’t been easy,” the UA head coach said about his staff. “For me, I just got my head down and really just trying to do the best that I can leading and really looking forward to hopefully an opportunity to get us back on top of the mountain.
“We were there. When you’ve been there and you’re off of it you have a real hunger to get back there. Hopefully that day will come.”
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