LAS VEGAS – Give Sean Miller credit. Whether you love him, hate him or have moved well past him, he once uttered the three words that echo into every postseason and will never not be true.
“Nastiness,” he told his Arizona Wildcats during the 2011 postseason, “is required.”
How else could you possibly describe what the Wildcats did to USC on Thursday?
Folks, that was nasty.
The Wildcats were all energy, all effort, all everything, all everywhere all at once in holding the Trojans to their lowest point total of the season in a 70-49 beatdown in the quarterfinals of the Pac-12 tournament.
This was exactly the kind of feel-good, get-right game Arizona needed after losing 78-65 at USC just five days earlier.
“It’s winning time,” said Wildcats guard Caleb Love.
“We just wanted to key in on defense. We always want to make that a part of our identity. Locking up on the defensive end, taking pride in our one-on-one matchups, we did that at a high level today.”
The Wildcats forced 18 turnovers. Held the Trojans to 35.7 percent shooting (20 of 56). Turned that defense into offense – 16 fast-break points to only two for USC. Allowed just 16 first-half points. Trojans leading scorer Boogie Ellis was a non-factor, scoring a scant six points on 2 of 11 shooting before fouling out with more than seven minutes remaining.
This was Arizona’s best defensive effort of the season.
“For sure. So far,” said freshman KJ Lewis.
“It’s coming at the right time. It’s postseason. I think everybody’s mindset has switched. We left everything in the regular season behind us.”
Tommy Lloyd’s teams run, glide, soar and are often an artistic, flowing basketball poem.
To continue to feel good, to stay right, they no longer have the luxury of being able to pick and choose when they want to be physical, to be nasty, to, use a phrase Lloyd mentioned Thursday,
“Good win. Just how we liked it,” Lloyd said at the opening of his postgame press conference at T-Mobile Arena.
“Drew it up perfect. We obviously wanted to establish ourselves defensively, not just because it was USC and how we played last time. Just because that’s what you’ve got to do this time of year.”
It helps when Lewis and Jaden Bradley are playing off the bench like a lighter version 2003 Andre Iguodala and Hassan Adams. Bradley scored 12 points in 18 minutes and is a defensive ace. Lewis scored a team-high 15 against USC two games after having a career-high 18 at UCLA.
“He always brings energy and effort every time,” Love said of Lewis. “The ball finds energy. That’s what he’s been doing.”
Lloyd went on to say that the Wildcats were “way more hungry on defense this time,” which I know will beg the question, “Why can’t these guys do this every time?”
As mentioned in Wednesday’s article, the loss at USC last Saturday was a “classic letdown.” If you’re expecting college kids to be at the top of the emotional mountain in every single game, well, that might be asking too much.
But it isn’t asking too much for the Wildcats to be locked in just like this for – you hope, they hope – eight more games.
No guarantees on any of it, but they know the mission: Nastiness is required.
“We’ve got a real mature group,” Lloyd said. “We’ve got a group of winners, a group of dogs. We haven’t been perfect, but no one has.”
Top photo:Arizona Wildcats guard KJ Lewis celebrates after making a play against USC. (Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports)
