Wildcats head into Christmas break with work to do

It should have been an easier game. Arizona went into Saturday night's meeting with UC Davis (3-8) as a favorite by more than 16 points. Yes, the Wildcats (9-4) have struggled over the last few weeks finishing 2-2 over the last four games of nonconference play.

Still, it was UC Davis. For most of the first half Arizona was well in control Saturday night pushing its lead to as many as 15 points. Then things fell apart, as they have sometimes done this year for UA, with the Aggies stringing together some baskets and leaning on point guard TJ Shorts II who finished the game with 25 points and seven rebounds.

Shorts is listed at 5-foot-9. His stature didn't matter Saturday night as he sliced up the UA defense and nearly helped his team pull off an upset in McKale Center. However, his opposite number nailed a huge shot as Arizona point guard Justin Coleman made his only basket of the game count on a 3-pointer with a minute left in the game.

If not for that shot by Coleman the Wildcats would be singing a different tune heading into their Christmas break, but regrouping and figuring things out after a win feels a lot better than a loss.

"We have no room for error," Sean Miller said after Saturday's 70-68 win. "We have to do things right. We have to play with great effort, togetherness. We can't have a single player that worries about getting taken out of the game or shots, any disfunction, because our margin for error is razor thin and you felt that in the first six to eight minutes of the second half. I felt it at halftime.

"Up 11, it didn't feel like we were up 11. That's something that we'll address, already have, but moving forward playing in this program and on this team it's nonnegotiable: great effort, playing unbelievably as hard as you can, concentrating, taking good shots, playing a team game knowing that we rely not just on our starting five but the players who don't start. If you watch us you should get that sense that we're a real team. If you ever get the sense that we're not we can lose at any moment, which I think we've proved."

UA heads into its break before the start of Pac-12 Conference play with less confidence than it once had coming off a beneficial trip to Maui for the Maui Invitational and after a tough road win over UConn. Since then there have been struggles and has put more pressure for the Wildcats to have a successful conference season to have a shot at the NCAA Tournament.

A win Saturday night was certainly something the team was thankful to have earned, but it doesn't take away from the fact that Arizona has things to get better at if it wants to compete in conference play.

"We made a lot of mistakes on the defensive end," Coleman said. "So, we're gonna go home and enjoy the four days for break, come back and watch film and just learn from it. Like the Baylor game we got outrebounded and we learned from that. Now we're learning from the UC Davis game. We're learning as it goes."

There were always going to be hurdles for this team to get over with a different type of makeup to the roster than Miller and his staff would normally put together. The UA head coach has leaned on the team's attitude as one of the biggest positives of his group. As the Wildcats prepare for conference play on the other side of its holiday break that is still something he feels will be key to the potential success of his team the rest of the way.

"We've been a team that's had a great attitude that's worked really hard," he said. "It's almost like all of us recognize that you have to do that to have a chance to be the best team we can be. My experience is you can go for a while like that, but it's really, really difficult to go the entirety. Usually there's a crack in the armor.

"When that crack comes we have to fix it, and I think the attitude and the effort level – which has been outstanding – can never waver. If it does we're gonna lose a few, win a couple, lose a few more win a couple. If we want to be better than that, I think what we love about this team, you can't lose that. Our defense has to stay steady. Our defense has really improved from the first game and tonight we took a major step back especially in the second half."

Arizona returns to action Jan. 3 against Colorado to open Pac-12 play.