Arizona’s freshmen bigs and Nick Johnson play big against outmanned Oregon State

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ARIZONA PRODUCTIVITY RATING

GLOSSARY:
G: Games played. S: Number of starts.
BP: Bench points. A player gets three points if he is first off the bench, two if second and one if third. Shows Sean Miller’s rotation.
OSU: Productivity points against Oregon State
OMIN: Minutes played against Oregon State
PP: Productivity Points (Points, assists, rebounds, steals, blocked shots, FGs made, FTs made added together and then subtracted by missed FGs, missed FTs, personal fouls and turnovers)
TMIN: Minutes played overall
PR: Productivity rating per minute played (Productivity points divided by minutes played)
NOTE: Player must average at least 10 minutes a game to be listed in primary rotation

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Oregon State was without its top rebounder and the Beavers’ strength as a team is questionable with a home loss to Towson on their record.

With the rut Arizona was in, especially losing for the first time Thursday at Oregon, the Wildcats needed a game like this against the hapless Beavers. Nick Johnson showed signs of life, leading the UA with 24 productivity points, and the Wildcats’ freshmen big men Brandon Ashley and Grant Jerrett were highly efficient in the 80-70 win at Gill Coliseum.

Oregon State was without sophomore forward Eric Moreland, who is averaging 10.8 points and 11.1 rebounds a game, because of disciplinary reasons. To Arizona’s credit, the Wildcats took advantage of that void rather than taking the Beavers for granted.

Ashley posted 19 productivity points in 22 minutes while Jerrett recorded 16 in 20. Six of those points for Jerrett were a career-high six blocked shots.

“I thought this was Grant’s best game in Arizona,” UA coach Sean Miller told reporters after the game. “He got six blocks in a game, and they weren’t easy blocks, they were big play blocks.

“He has that length and it seems like every time we go through a new experience there’s one of those freshmen who seems to improve. That’s one of the exciting things about our team, we have a number of first-year players in key roles and hopefully they can continue to develop. Brandon and Grant were much better tonight than they were against Oregon. Some of that has to do with Oregon, but they were better tonight, they were ready, they were physical and they helped us win.”

Oregon State is 0-3 in the Pac-12 with three double-digit losses at home against Oregon, ASU and Arizona. The Wildcats are 15-1 overall and 3-1 in the conference heading into next Saturday’s showdown with ASU in Tempe.

Johnson, a Phoenix native whose father played for the Sun Devils, heads into that game with a better frame of mind after his performance against Oregon State. He was more assertive taking the ball to the basket, drawing enough fouls to lead the UA with seven free-throw attempts (he made five). He also took six of his nine shots inside the arc, making three to finish with 14 points.

He also had six rebounds, five assists and only one turnover.

Solomon Hill and Mark Lyons led the Wildcats with 16 points. Hill made a career-high five three-pointers in eight attempts while Lyons posted five assists with only two turnovers. Johnson and Lyons combined for 10 assists with only three turnovers.

“(Hill) is a great example of how you have to stay with it – and if you’re talented good things will come,” Miller told reporters.

Arizona out-rebounded an opponent (43-37) for the seventh time in the last eight games. The Wildcats’ freshman bigs — Ashley, Jerrett and Kaleb Tarczewski — combined for 17 rebounds.

“They aren’t going to come in and be the third pick in the NBA draft in five months,” Miller said. “That’s fantasyland for 99 percent of athletes. But what they are, are really good players, great kids and I believe in one day, no question about it, they can head in that direction.

“But it’s a process and it’s a process they are more than happy to go through. They work hard everyday and as you can see tonight, they are immensely talented. As you grade our freshmen and look at them, they are going to continue to develop and become really good and I was happy with how they played tonight.”

Defensive Rebounding Percentage (DRB%): Determined by dividing Arizona’s defensive rebounds (31 against Oregon State) by the opposition’s offensive rebounds (Oregon State had 12) added to Arizona’s defensive rebounds (31) — 31/(12 + 31) = 72.1 percent.

Offensive Rebounding Percentage (ORB%): Determined by taking Arizona’s offensive rebound total (12) divided by that total (12) and the defensive rebounds of the opponent (25 for Oregon State) — 12/(12+25) = 32.4 percent.

Ideal marks are 75 percent DRB% and 40 percent ORB%.

NEXT UP: Arizona at Arizona State, Jan. 19 BOX SCORES/PRODUCTIVITY LEADER: Arizona 80, Oregon State 70 — Brandon Ashley 19 PP/22 MIN Oregon 70, Arizona 66 — Mark Lyons 24 PP/37 MIN Arizona 60, Utah 57 — Solomon Hill 29 PP/35 MIN Arizona 92, Colorado 83 (OT) — Kevin Parrom 28 PP/34 MIN Arizona 68, San Diego State 67 — Kevin Parrom 28 PP/26 MIN Arizona 69, Miami 50 — Kevin Parrom 21 PP/21 MIN Arizona 73, East Tennessee State 53 — Brandon Ashley 27 PP/22 MIN Arizona 89, Oral Roberts 64 — Grant Jerrett 24 PP/21 MIN Arizona 65, Florida 64 — Solomon Hill 31 PP/37 MIN Arizona 66, Clemson 54 — Mark Lyons 30 PP/33 MIN Arizona 63, Southern Mississippi 55 — Kevin Parrom 19 PP/30 MIN Arizona 85, Texas Tech 57 — Solomon Hill 26 PP/26 MIN Arizona 93, NAU 50 — Nick Johnson 27 PP/22 MIN Arizona 94, Long Beach State 72 — Brandon Ashley 40 PP/24 MIN Arizona 72, UTEP 51 — Mark Lyons 21 PP/25 MIN Arizona 82, Charleston Southern 73 — Brandon Ashley 26 PP/24 MIN

DEFENSIVE/OFFENSIVE REBOUNDING% Opp DRB% ORB% Margin OSU 72.1 32.4 43-37 Oregon 79.3 29.0 32-28 Utah 71.4 48.6 38-27 Col 82.9 35.7 44-33 SDSU 63.3 36.1 30-32 Miami 86.8 46.4 46-20 ETSU 84.6 38.2 46-27 ORU 78.3 29.6 37-27 Florida 60.0 16.0 22-33 Clemson 66.7 48.8 44-33 So.Miss 58.3 52.0 34-27 TTech 72.1 41.7 41-26 NAU 81.6 28.6 39-27 LBSU 82.4 43.3 41-23 UTEP 81.5 56.5 35-15 CSU 64.5 32.4 31-34 74.4 38.4 605-451

Site publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner