It hasn't always been easy without Nick Johnson and Aaron Gordon, but Arizona showed on Saturday it can still be one of the most dominant teams in the country when everything comes together.
Arizona entered its Saturday night game against Utah searching for a reminder of how good it could be. This was a rare occasion when the Wildcats played at McKale Center against a team ranked above them in the polls. The Utes had won seven straight and were looking like a Final Four sleeper while Arizona lost to Oregon State one week earlier, a team that began this season with an exhibition loss to DII Western Oregon.
For the first five minutes, it seemed like Utah was the team heading for a statement win. Star guard Delon Wright scored the Utes' first seven points and suddenly Arizona found itself trailing 10-2. That's when the Wildcats decided to lock down on defense, get the offense flowing and inevitably work out one of their most convincing wins of the season.
A performance like this shouldn't feel surprising for Sean Miller's team, but so many times this season Arizona's whole hasn't felt as great as the some of its parts. There's blue chip recruits up and down the roster in Tucson, but the pecking order isn't always clear. It's a potential downside of a starting lineup that features four NBA prospects and is tied together by senior point guard T.J. McConnell, who is just as essential to winning games as the rest of them.
On Saturday, those roles came naturally. McConnell was incredible in probing the defense, hitting eight of his first nine shots to finish with 16 points and six assists. Rondae Hollis-Jefferson made his case as one of the country's best wing defenders by switching onto Wright and holding him to just three points the rest of the game after those scorching first five minutes. The frontline of Kaleb Tarczewski and Brandon Ashley finally played up to their enormous potential, combing to provide 21 points and 13 rebounds. And then there was Stanley Johnson.
Johnson was anointed a star before he ever stepped foot on campus. He was Aaron Gordon's replacement in Arizona's starting lineup and he figured to have a similar fate at the end of the season as a one-and-done top five pick in the NBA draft. Gordon and Johnson were once teammates on the same grassroots team -- the Oakland Soldiers -- but their games are opposites. While Gordon is an incredible defender who helped Arizona finish No. 1 in KenPom's defensive efficiency rankings last year, Johnson is a thoroughbred scorer. Utah found that out the hard way in the final 20 minutes of the game.
Johnson finished the first half with zero points and zero rebounds. He came out in the second half looking to dominate, and that's exactly what happened. He scored nine straight early in the second half to blow the game open, showcasing the physical abilities that make him one of college basketball's biggest anomalies.
Johnson is 6'8, 243 pounds, making him heavier than some NBA centers (like Chicago's Joakim Noah). At the college level, that type of size is almost unfair when combined with a non-stop motor and a developing inside-out game. When Johnson wants to be, he's one of the country's biggest bullies. There were times when Utah could do absolutely nothing about it:
Johnson finished that second half with 18 points and nine rebounds. He's already Arizona's leading scorer, which is no small feat for a team with this much talent. Miller doesn't want him to force his offense, but there's times when Arizona's best option is simply to give Johnson the ball and let him create for himself. He's a matchup nightmare capable of playing three positions. There aren't many wings in the country who are going to stop a 243-pound manchild like Johnson when he puts his head down and decides to get to the rim.
Arizona is now in the top 20 in both offensive and defensive efficiency according to KenPom. Replacing Gordon and reigning Pac-12 Player of the Year Nick Johnson hasn't been easy, but Arizona showed it can still be one of the best teams in the country when everything falls into place. Johnson is becoming the alpha dog scorer, Hollis-Jefferson the ace defender and transition terror, Gabe York and Elliott Pitts the shooters off the bench.
At the center of it all is McConnell, who might have played the best game of his career on Saturday. Miller and everyone else around the program know how important he is:
Today, Sean Miller pretty much said T.J. McConnell is his most impactful recruit since he came to Arizona.
— Kevin Zimmerman (@KZimmermanFSAZ) January 18, 2015
That's quite the compliment when you factor in Johnson and Gordon, not to mention Tarczewski (a top five recruit out of high school) or former No. 2 overall NBA draft pick Derrick Williams. McConnell transferred from Duquesne and might not ever play a minute in the NBA, but his steady hand in guiding the rest of this talented bunch is that consequential.
Arizona is the type of program that can only be graded in March. After losing a heartbreaker to Wisconsin in the Elite Eight last season, Miller knows this season is essentially Final Four or bust. There could be some serious overturn with the roster a year from now. Miller is recruiting as well as anyone in the country outside of John Calipari, but there will be an adjustment period with McConnell and Johnson (at the very least) gone next season.
For now, Arizona is using the regular season as a trial period. Wins over Gonzaga and now Utah at home have the Wildcats in the mix for a potential No. 1 seed. The bigger concern should be figuring out the distribution of possessions offensively and finding their identity defensively once again. When all that happens, Arizona can play with anyone. Utah just learned that in an irrefutable fashion.
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