Sean Miller lambasts Arizona after win over South Dakota State

Jacob Snow-USA TODAY Sports

It wasn’t the rout most people were expecting. The No. 14 Arizona Wildcats (5-0) had to rally from a 10-point first-half deficit to defeat the South Dakota State Jackrabbits 71-64 on Thursday in McKale Center.

Head coach Sean Miller delivered a scathing four-minute rant to begin his postgame press conference, criticizing his team’s shot selection and inability to get Zeke Nnaji the ball. The freshman phenom finished with 12 points but did not attempt a field goal in the first half.

Here’s what Miller had to say:

“Everybody gets kicks out of quick shots and it’s fun, it’s like we’re at a carnival. It doesn’t work that way. It doesn’t work. The analogy is no different in college football. When the weather gets cold, you gotta be able to both run and pass. You gotta be smart. You know, that sounds good, but usually when the game gets going fast, that means that you’re flying around on defense, you’re getting defensive stops, you’re making good plays. And of course we have talent in the open court and that’s when the quick shots are going to go up and they’re going to be good shots. But to take quick, crazy shots, 3-point shots the way we did tonight, we’re very fortunate to win.

“We have a player on our team who leads the nation. If you lead the nation in anything, you are outstanding. Zeke Nnaji has proven that when he gets the ball, especially around the rim, great things happen. We play 20 minutes, and he was in foul trouble, but it really started in the second half of the last game. He didn’t take one shot. He didn’t take one shot. You have the nation’s leading field-goal shooter on your team and he doesn’t take one jump hook? Not one? That’s a problem. And we have 13 3-point shots at the half? We had 10 2s. We were 8 for 10 from 2. We were 4 for 13 from 3. You don’t get fouled, you don’t go to the foul line, and then the fact we had 12 turnovers, plus 13 3s, that’s as poor and really inefficient, ineffective, not playing to win, not playing smart, 20 minutes we’ve had a long, long time, especially considering the way that our team is constructed.

“So at halftime, the message was simple. Let’s get the ball closer to the basket. Let’s be a little bit more patient. We took care of the ball, we had only three turnovers. We had three turnovers in a minute and a half to open the game. So we played the final 20 minutes with only three turnovers which is great, and you look at what happened, we took three 3s. Even some of the 2s we missed were right at the rim. They were head-scratchers, two or three of them where they’re 90 percent shots. Bu all of a sudden you shoot 30 free throws in one half after we shot seven in the first half. So we have to be a smarter overall team.

“And one thing about basketball that makes our game different than others is the same group of guys on offense have to play defense. If you take quick, ill-advised shots on offense, the ball is not getting to where it should, it’s hard for that same group to be tough-minded, disciplined, together on defense. It works together. And when you’re playing tough defense, where you’re supposed to be, you’re riding it out, and you’re getting defensive stops, well that same group’s not going to take circus shots, 3-point shots for no reason.

“So do I feel like we have the ability to learn a lesson here? No doubt. But the lesson is learned from my perspective of that’s not going to happen. If we have to slow down to slow down (we’ll do it). But the best players on our team, the players that are efficient, need to get more shots and the players that keep missing have to shoot less or play less.

“I think the other part is we’re a deep team, tonight was not our bench’s night. They broke down defensively and we just didn’t get that spark. We might have had one four-minute stretch in the second half where we did, but our bench didn’t have a great night. For that matter, really neither did our starters. We did not have a good night tonight. South Dakota State deserves a lot of credit. But again, the fact Zeke had zero field-goal attempts in the first 20 minutes, that’s the coach’s fault. And it’s up to me to correct that and I think it’ll be corrected first thing tomorrow.”

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