Despite win, glass is half empty for Arizona coach Sean Miller

LAS VEGAS — It would have been easy for No. 15 Arizona to focus on a half-filled glass following Thursday’s 82-78 win over Colorado in the Pac-12 Tournament quarterfinals at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. With the win, the Wildcats moved halfway to a second straight conference title.

It was the half empty portion that was troubling coach Sean Miller, however, and half was definitely the buzzword after the Cats followed their most intense defensive performance of the season in the first half with a lackluster finish over the game’s final 20 minutes.

“I guess you could look at it this way: ‘hey, everything’s fine. We’re in the semifinals against Oregon. Awesome job. We advanced,” Miller said. “Or you can really say our effort level was as bad as I’ve ever seen in the last 20 minutes.

“I choose to focus on the second one.”

Arizona (25-7) will never be considered a dominant defensive team, but if the Cats needed a blueprint for postseason success, they put it on film in the first half against the Buffaloes. They trapped the post effectively, they were aggressive on Colorado’s ball screens and they never allowed the Buffs to establish offensive rhythm.

The only thing Arizona needed to punctuate its suffocation of Colorado was the actual exclamation point.

Center Kaleb Tarczewski and guard Gabe York took care of that a little before the halftime buzzer.

Colorado guard Thomas Akyazili missed a layup with Tarczewski towering over him and Tarczewski grabbed the defensive rebound. As soon as he did, York released up the right wing and got behind the Buffaloes’ defense. Tarczewski hit him in stride, York threw down a dunk to the delight of the partisan Wildcat crowd and Tarczewski pointed to the sky and the scoreboard, almost to notify Colorado that the game was over as Arizona took a 37-16 lead with 1:59 left.

“I thought our defense was as good as it’s been all year,” Miller said. “You could see we had a group that was committed and really played with tremendous energy.”

The first-half stats were startling. Colorado shot just 8-of-31 from the field, 0-for-5 from beyond the arc and turned the ball over 10 times. Fueled by those turnovers and a lethal transition game, Arizona shot 15-of-31 from the floor and 5-of-8 from 3-point range. The Cats recorded six steals and eight blocks.

In Miller’s view, however, the Cats have made a habit of 20-minute performances and that was the case on Thursday.

Colorado dominated Arizona on the glass to outrebound the Cats 51-35 in the game. The Buffs attempted a staggering 45 field goals to Arizona’s 17 in the second half.

“In our best and worst moments we’ve been a one-half team,” Miller said. “It’s really plagued us through (32 games). If you win 25 obviously a lot of good things have happened, but if you hold our team to the standards of the past at Arizona… we’re not going to be able to advance and be the same team we’ve been.

“I question our effort wholeheartedly in the second half.”

Arizona had three saving graces over the final 20 minutes as Colorado clawed closer and closer — eventually drawing within one possession. Guard Allonzo Trier hit 3-of-5 shots in the second half and 5-of-6 free throws on his way to a game-high 23 points. Forward Ryan Anderson made eight of nine free throws to keep the Buffs at bay, and a decidedly Arizona crowd gave the Cats just enough energy to finish the job.

“Our fans are our sixth man out there,” said Anderson, who had 17 points and 11 rebounds. “They really help us out; they bring a lot of energy.

“It’s going to be nice having them here (Friday). Hopefully they can come loud again and hopefully we can play better in both halves.”

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