Arizona basketball: Keanu Pinder has been a “pleasant surprise” for the Wildcats early on

The Australian plans to bring defense and rebounding to the Wildcats this season

The Arizona Wildcats signed four players in their highly-touted 2016 recruiting class, but only the top three — five-star prospects Rawle Alkins, Kobi Simmons, and Lauri Markkanen — receive a considerable amount of attention from those outside the program.

Often overlooked is junior college transfer Keanu Pinder, a 6-foot-9, 220 pound forward from Australia.

“Keanu sometimes is the forgotten man because he came from Hutchinson Junior College,” said Arizona head coach Sean Miller, who’s only received a total of two questions about Pinder. “But he’s someone else that’s really been invaluable.

“And I think he’s been one of the pleasant surprises early on for us.”

Arizona lost Ryan Anderson and Kaleb Tarczewski — the team’s leading rebounders a season ago — and Pinder is a natural candidate to help replace them, as he averaged 6.9 rebounds as a sophomore at HCC.

“One thing that stands out about Keanu is answering the question of rebounding,” Miller said. “He has an explosion — a quickness to the ball — and a hunger to go get it. He doesn’t do it because he’s 6-foot-9, he does it because he’s tough-minded and very, very physical.”

Pinder — the 2015 Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference Defensive Player of the Year — also has “incredible quickness defensively,” according to Miller.

“Defense and rebounding,” Pinder said. “Those are the things I do well.”

And it’s those two things that will be his ticket to playing time come November, as Pinder is one of five members of an unsettled Arizona front court.

“He’s someone that is in the mix because he gives us something that we really lost from last year’s team,” Miller said. “This year, especially early on, if guys aren’t doing a good job in that area, he’s somebody that I could see carving out a role for himself.”

His teammates would be far from shocked if it happened.

“He goes hard at everything,” said forward Ray Smith, who’s often guarded by Pinder at practice. “Sometimes it’s even scary, but a lot of times it’s like ‘man I’m glad that guy’s on my team.’”

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