A matchup between defensive powerhouse Washington State and Arizona men’s basketball for first place is scheduled.
The easiest shots to make are, in theory, those that are closest to the basket. When they don’t go in, they’re also the ones that aggravate people the most.
Fourth No. As one of the best two-point shooting teams in the nation, Arizona (20-5, 11-3 Pac-12) makes 54.8 percent of its shots from beyond the arc. Hoop-Math.com reports that the Wildcats shoot 62 percent of their shots “at the rim,” which includes layups, dunks, and tip-ins.
Pac-12 play had a 57.5 percent rate, a figure that was significantly impacted by the UA’s previous matchup with 21st-ranked Washington State.
The Wildcats shot a season-low 34.7 percent, including 37.5 percent on 2s, in a 73-70 loss in Pullman on January 13. It was even worse at the rim, when Arizona only converted 11 of 31 shots.
Point guard Kylan Boswell, who went scoreless in the game and failed to register an assist for the first time as a starter, remarked, “We probably got a little flustered with their zone.” “We’ve spent a lot of effort trying to adjust our zone offensive to counter any zone defenses against us. We no longer allow that to become a problem. As a squad, I think we’ve improved, for sure.
Washington State (20-6, 11-4) has won seven straight games; their lone defeat came earlier.
WSU’s success has been due heavily to what Tommy Lloyd called a “zone-to-man” defense that has led to the Pac-12’s second-best scoring (69.5) and field goal defense (43.3 percent) as well as the best rate defending 2s (46.6 percent) in league play. Only five of 14 conference opponents have had an effective FG percentage of better than 50 against the Cougs.
The UA’s was 39.6, the lowest of 2023-24, and this wasn’t a one-game thing against WSU. Last year it averaged 81.9 points for the season but 62 against the Cougars, including a 74-61 home loss in which it shot 31.7 percent.
Arizona has only shot below 45 percent 10 times under Lloyd, with two of those coming against WSU.
Lloyd stated, “It’s not a junk defense because it’s legit and they’re doing a great job with it.” They perform an excellent job of safeguarding the rim, in my opinion. Because of the way their defense is constructed, they actively contest those shots and seek to limit size as much as possible. They perform admirably at being physically aggressive without overtly fouling. Our guys need to understand that when they get down there, they have to be balanced and accountable for making the shot. The day they get called is not relevant if you’re playing for fouls.
Arizona’s performance at WSU in mid-January was followed up by a home win over USC in which it was 11 of 28 on layups and dunks, after which Lloyd said the Wildcats needed to “get paid when we get the ball in there.” He was referring to his team finishing through contact, not assuming contact will result in a foul.
“I’m not a guy that’s really excited for our players to just dive into people on hope refs blow their whistle,” he said. “I just want to leave it in our players’ hands, and hopefully if there’s an obvious file or a foul is created the refs reward it. It’s not much more complicated than that.
It’s not like Arizona isn’t receiving called; it takes more free throws than any other team in the Pac-12, 24.1 per game. In the previous meeting, both teams attempted 21 foul shots; WSU made 17 while Arizona made 13.
The UA has improved significantly at the rim since those two games, shooting 62.2 percent in the following eight contests.
The UA, which is on its longest string of scoring 70 or more points (25) since doing so the final 26 games of the 2002–03 season, scored its fewest points of the season in Pullman (70).
Encountering WSU’s defense is just 50% of the fight. Additionally, there’s the issue of controlling Isaac Jones, a senior forward, and Myles Rice, a rookie guard. In their previous meeting, they combined for 42 points, earning them the titles of Pac-12 Player and Freshman of the Week, respectively. Jones is ranked fifth on KenPom.com’s list of Pac-12 Player of the Year contenders, while Rice is the clear favorite for Pac-12 Freshman of the Year and Kyle Smith is likely to win Coach of the Year.
Leave a Reply