The Arizona Wildcats basketball team beat the Gonzaga Bulldogs last Saturday. What were the keys to the game and what should they continue to do in the future?

Sometimes the eye can be deceiving; you can make assumptions based on what you think you are seeing without knowing what’s going on in the locker room. Let’s face it, some sports fans (and sports bloggers) seem always to think they know what’s going on, but sometimes they miss the more subtle coaching strategies going on during a game.

Key No. 1 – Avoid Foul Trouble

Soft, that’s how you would describe the Wildcats defense in the first half. The only players with rebounds in the first half were the shortest two active players on the team Parker Jackson-Cartwright (two rebounds) and Kadeem Allen (three rebounds); no big men had made a rebound.

Think back to the DirecTV Wooden Legacy Tournament final game against Boise State. Remember who fouled out? Ryan Anderson and Mark Tollefsen. Miller was stuck with a dilemma with a shortage of big men left down the stretch to win the game. He put out his guards, five guards to win the game. Luckily it was the right call. Recently he has mentioned that he wants to develop his freshmen more, and we will see more of Chance Comanche in the future.

That experience had to be stressful for our coach, even if he is a mastermind. He didn’t want to be in that position this time around, playing against a ranked team and knowing what a win would mean to the program down the road when tournament seeding comes around.

Dec 5, 2015; Spokane, WA, USA; Gonzaga Bulldogs forward Domantas Sabonis (11) goes up against Arizona Wildcats center Dusan Ristic (14) during the second half at McCarthey Athletic Center. The Wildcats won 68-63. Mandatory Credit: James Snook-USA TODAY Sports

Miller would never say this out loud, but there is a huge possibility that Miller told his big men not to foul in the first half, saving it for the second half when he would have them in front of the bench on offense and could really make a difference. It’s a possibility; let the Zags get confident and think they had the game in the bag, then come out in the second half and crank it up on both sides of the court.

If this was part of the plan for the game, then it worked. Going into the second half, not one of the Wildcats had more than two fouls, where the Zags had a few players with three fouls. It just looked like the players weren’t trying at all, it seemed on purpose. Nevertheless, the Wildcats did not get in foul trouble during the game, and it helped Miller coach the team to a win and the players to get more aggressive in the second quarter.

Key No. 2 – Believe in your Players

Wildcats fans haven’t always been 100% behind their basketball team. Legit or not, some fans got downright mean about how they felt about certain players. Players who went cold with shooting, players who were indecisive, and players who were not living up to their expectations at the beginning of the season.

The coaching staff has been trying to figure out how to get the team to play the way they know the team can play. You’ve heard Miller and others say “it’s a process” or “believe in the process.” It is a process, and patience is a virtue.

Dec 5, 2015; Spokane, WA, USA; Arizona Wildcats guard Gabe York (1) puts up a shot against Gonzaga Bulldogs guard Josh Perkins (13) during the first half at McCarthey Athletic Center. Mandatory Credit: James Snook-USA TODAY Sports

You could tell that Miller felt he just hadn’t been able to find the right starter and bench mix to win games without giving their fans a heart attack. Over the last week, that changed for the Wildcats, head coach. Miller seemed to be more confident in his players, even after how the first half went. The way the team was playing, it was a miracle that the Cats were only down by 10.

Miller gave in and decided to stop pushing his players and future stars to do things exactly how he wanted them to do it, instead, he let Allonzo drive more, and he continued to encourage Gabe York to shoot and play his game.

York has always played extremely confident and eager to make a difference, be the spark, get that key three-pointer. It’s not lost on him that it’s his turn, and he better perform. York has been cold for the last couple of games, relatively cold; he was scoring an average of about 10 points in his last three games. He had scored 18 against Northwestern State, then eleven points against Santa Clara, ten points against Providence and Boise state.

York was due for a big game, and it came at the absolute right time, he was the catalyst for the Wildcats win over the Zags even though they played on the road and in front of the intimidating student section or Dog Pound. But York didn’t do it alone, he had some help from his teammates. Ryan Anderson did not dominate the game but still contributed 13 points, and Allonzo Trier 14 points, Every Wildcat on the team scored except for Justin Simon and Kadeem Allen. Allen helped in a different way; he made five rebounds, one block, two assists and two steals.

Judging a player’s contribution cannot just be valued by looking and analyzing a players game stats. Intangibles don’t get recorded in their stats. That couldn’t be truer than for Elliott Pitts. Pitts was the key to bringing down and stopping Kyle Wiltjer from scoring.

Arizona Wildcats fan and stats guru Max Pitpitan offers this analysis to make the case and prove what Miller said which was that Elliott Pitts was the best player on defense for Arizona. He helped the Wildcats beat Zags main scorer, Kyle Wiltjer, who had 20 mostly uncontested points in the first half alone.

With the game clock at 11 mins left, Pitts enters the game to guard Wiltjer.

Pitts double teams Josh Perkins and causes a turnover.

Pitts stayed in Wiltjer’s face causes Wiltjer to pass the ball.

Pitts battled Wiltjer for a rebound off a missed free throw which lets York make the grab.

Wiltjer calls for the pass down low but Pitts boxes him out making Wiltjer miss the pass causing another out-of-bounds turnover.

Anderson missed a layup, but Pitts grabbed the offensive rebound that lead to Anderson scoring two points.

Pitts then battled Wiltjer for another missed shot which lead Anderson to grab the rebound.

With 5:30 left, Pitts was taken out of the game. Wiltjer had zero points. Between the time of 5.30 to .55 Wiltjer went 2-4 in FG.

Miller puts Pitts on Wiltjer with .55 seconds to finish the game. Wiltjer had shot a 3 pointer with 10 seconds left with Pitts’s hand in his face. The shot was missed. A 6’6 SF guarded one of the best scorers in the nation standing at 6’10 and didn’t let him score once.

Mar 26, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Arizona Wildcats guard Elliott Pitts (24) moves to the basket against Xavier Musketeers during the first half in the semifinals of the west regional of the 2015 NCAA Tournament at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports

Max’s conclusion: Pitts used his quick feet, long arms and incredible heart to disrupt Wiltjer’s game for almost 7.5 mins. Pitts energy and heart easily make him Miller’s best defender guarding the opponent’s best scorer making Pitts a valuable asset for this year’s team

Miller pointed to Pitt’s contributions on defense as well in his post game press conference.

Key No. 3 – Zone and double team defense can make up for the loss of your Center

The Wildcats play man-to-man defense the majority of the time, and the majority of the time it works. Last week, the Wildcats would have to learn how to play defense without their star center, that would mean you need to re-evaluate your defense, in particular against a very strong Gonzaga team ranked No. 13 in the Nation.’

When the man-to-man defense wasn’t working, Miller switched to zone defense, and not just a zone defense, he had his players double-team the ball, especially down near the basket. This strategy was the right call, and it worked. The players were making the Zags miss, and it was their turn to go cold in the second half.

Arizona will be a much harder team to beat now that they have shown they can play both types of defense.

In Sean Miller’s post-game presser he explains further:

Miller finally found a few new strategies that worked in an extremely competitive and difficult game that most felt he would lose. Make sure your players do not get into foul trouble, trust your players this is a different team so you may need to coach them differently, and have a couple different defenses ready to go to surprise their opponent and give them more options.

Beardown Arizona!