Sean Miller’s late timeout leaves many asking questions
Mar 11, 2017, 11:38 AM | Updated: Mar 21, 2017, 2:32 pm
Arizona coach Sean Miller, left, speaks with his players during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against UCLA in the semifinals of the Pac-12 men's tournament Friday, March 10, 2017, in Las Vegas. Arizona won 86-75. (AP Photo/John Locher)
(AP Photo/John Locher)
When Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller left the T-Mobile Arena court late Friday night following the Wildcats’ convincing 86-75 win over UCLA, there were many questions for the coach.
However, the questions were not about his team’s performance that secured a spot in Saturday’s championship game against Oregon. Instead, it was why Miller called a timeout with 0.9 seconds left.
To get the answers you may not have to look too far to Feb. 25 when UCLA coach Steve Alford called a timeout with a second left and the Bruins on the cusp of a 77-72 win.
On Friday Miller said that the timeout was called to give senior Kadeem Allen his due and to make sure his team was poised at the end of the game.
“We learned from UCLA in that game (on Feb. 25), making sure your team is poised when they called that timeout,” Miller said. “We wanted to do the same thing, make sure our team was poised moving forward.”
Miller’s actions might have shown the Wildcats didn’t take kindly to Alford’s timeout at McKale Center and as a result, it might have given Arizona a chip on its shoulders on Friday.
“I guess they were upset when I called timeout at their place,” Alford said. “We made two free throws and I didn’t mean disrespect at all. It put us up five and I wanted to set my defense. We hadn’t won there, so I didn’t want anything goofy to happen. Apparently, he thought we were being disrespectful and that was his way of getting back at us.”
The Associated Press contributed to this story
