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Surprise: Another rushing of the court after an Arizona loss (YouTube video screen shot, click on photo to access video)
WHAT IS PRODUCTIVITY RATING?:
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)
MIN: Minutes played overall
PR: Productivity rating per minute played (Productivity points divided by minutes played)
OREGON ST. 58, ARIZONA 56
PRODUCTIVITY RATING
* — STARTERS
| Player | Pos | PP | MIN | PR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| *Rondae Hollis-Jefferson | SF | 26 | 34 | .765 |
| *T.J. McConnell | PG | 23 | 35 | .657 |
| Gabe York | SG | 12 | 25 | .480 |
| Elliott Pitts | SG | 5 | 17 | .294 |
| *Stanley Johnson | SF | 6 | 26 | .231 |
| *Brandon Ashley | PF | 2 | 29 | .069 |
| *Kaleb Tarczewski | C | 1 | 23 | .043 |
| LESS THAN 10 MIN | ||||
| Parker Jackson-Cartwright | PG | -1 | 7 | -.143 |
| Dusan Ristic | C | -1 | 4 | -.250 |
| TOTAL TEAM | 73 | 200 | .365 |
PAC-12 RPI RATING
Present RPI ranking of the Pac-12.
| Rank | Team | Ovr | Pac12 | SOS | Top50 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No.9 | Utah | 12-2 | 3-0 | 20 | 2-2 |
| No.11 | Arizona | 14-2 | 2-1 | 59 | 2-0 |
| No.40 | Stanford | 11-4 | 3-1 | 79 | 2-1 |
| No.64 | Colorado | 9-6 | 2-1 | 27 | 0-4 |
| No.69 | Washington | 11-4 | 0-3 | 155 | 2-1 |
| No.73 | UCLA | 10-7 | 2-2 | 28 | 1-6 |
| No.85 | Oregon St. | 10-4 | 2-1 | 172 | 1-1 |
| No.91 | Oregon | 11-4 | 2-1 | 109 | 1-2 |
| No.104 | California | 11-6 | 1-3 | 99 | 1-2 |
| No.115 | USC | 9-7 | 1-3 | 74 | 0-2 |
| No.117 | Washington St. | 8-7 | 2-1 | 128 | 0-2 |
| No.138 | Arizona St. | 8-8 | 0-3 | 82 | 1-3 |
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OREGON ST. 58, ARIZONA 56
Arizona’s lowest productivity rating of the season last night (.365) coincided with frontcourt starters Kaleb Tarcewski and Brandon Ashley combining for only three productivity points in 52 minutes.
That’s a combined productivity rating of .058, far below their combined season rating of .515.
Arizona coach Sean Miller, a football fan, did something similar to a football coach pulling the starting quarterback after an ineffective three quarters. He sat Tarczewski and Ashley in the last five minutes of the loss, but even then, it did not matter as Oregon State continued to hit shots and be the aggressor against the Wildcats’ smaller lineup.
Miller and his staff are looking for more consistency from Ashley and Tarczewski, especially on the boards and on defense, in addition to contributing on the offensive end.
In last night’s loss, they combined for only nine points on 3 of 11 shooting from the field, three rebounds (Tarczewski had none) and one turnover without an assist.
Tarczewski, with a struggling season productivity rating of .477, has yet to lead the team in productivity in a game this season. Ashley (.550 for the season) has led the Wildcats once, in their win over Gonzaga, when he posted a ,500 rating.
After that victory over Gonzaga, Ashley was lauded as the difference maker for the Wildcats. Doug Haller of the Arizona Republic tweeted: “Arizona might have the best wings in the country, but no one is more important to its Final Four hopes than Brandon Ashley.”
Since that game 37 days ago, Ashley has posted a subpar .480 rating in eight games. He was at .618 overall after the win over the Bulldogs.
The change in confidence is at the defensive end when Ashley is matched against smaller, more athletic forwards. His lateral quickness is lacking against such players like UNLV’s Christian Wood and Oregon State’s Daniel Gomis. That leads to frustration from Ashley and Miller and it showed in both losses.
Brandon Ashley works in traffic during 1H. Something #ArizonaWildcats finding a lot of early vs. Oregon State pic.twitter.com/nNkJPxlbff
— Mike Christy (@wildcatphotog) January 12, 2015
Fed up with #arizonawildcats defense again, Sean Miller considers mixing in some zone & other notes from Corvallis: http://t.co/xM2I5TKEHc
— Bruce Pascoe (@BrucePascoe) January 12, 2015
HOW ARE THEY DOING?
Present RPI ranking of Arizona’s non-conference opponents. Arizona is No. 9 with a strength-of-schedule ranking of No. 85.
Rank Opponent Rec Result Date No.7 Gonzaga 15-1 UA/66-63 (OT) 12/6/14 No.45 SDSU 11-4 UA/61-59 11/26/14 No.84 Michigan 9-6 UA/83-50 12/13/14 No.97 UNLV 9-6 UNLV/71-67 12/23/14 No.107 UTEP 11-5 UA/60-55 12/19/14 No.128 K-State 9-7 UA/72-68 11/25/14 No.135 Gardner-Webb 7-6 UA/91-65 12/2/14 No.144 Missouri 6-8 UA/72-53 11/24/14 No.188 UC-Irvine 6-8 UA/71-54 11/19/14 No.189 Mt.St.Mary's 6-9 UA/78-55 11/14/14 No.203 Oakland 4-12 UA/101-63 12/16/14 No.256 Utah Valley 5-9 UA/87-56 12/9/14 No.284 CSUN 3-13 UA/86-68 11/16/14
Ashley’s struggles in the losses to UNLV and Oregon State have coincided with those of starting wing player Stanley Johnson. His productivity rating for the season is a respectable .720. In the two losses, Johnson has posted a rating of only .387.
The Wildcats can ill-afford any of their players to have substandard games. Miller is in search of consistency from all of them, from Rondae Hollis-Jefferson to Parker Jackson-Cartwright.
Four regulars are now below .500 for the season — Gabe York (.490), Tarczewski (.477), Jackson-Cartwright (.463) and Elliott Pitts (.268).
Miller has 15 regular-season games to raise their productivity ratings along with correcting Ashley’s slump. A lot of time remains in the process, as he calls it.
With his track record and the talent involved, there is reason to believe the productivity will come on a more consistent basis.
3 top observations of #ArizonaWildcats’ loss at OreSt: Zone ahead?/As Stanley Johnson goes so goes UA/What loss means http://t.co/EEsN3k1Epg
— Javier Morales (@JavierJMorales) January 12, 2015
SEASON PRODUCTIVITY RATING
Player Pos G S PP MIN PR R.Hollis-Jefferson SF 16 3 335 415 .807 Stanley Johnson SF 16 15 326 453 .720 T.J. McConnell PG 16 16 273 471 .580 Brandon Ashley PF 16 16 258 469 .550 Gabe York SG 16 13 177 361 .490 Kaleb Tarczewski C 16 16 209 438 .477 P.Jackson-Cartwright PG 16 0 76 164 .463 Elliott Pitts SG 16 1 62 231 .268 AVG 5-9.9 MIN Craig Victor PF 8 0 38 57 .667 Dusan Ristic C 16 0 66 134 .493 AVG 1-4.9 MIN Matt Korcheck PF 6 0 17 18 .944 Drew Mellon SF 3 0 1 6 .167 Trey Mason SG 4 0 -3 6 -.500 Jacob Hazzard PG 6 0 -5 7 -.714 TOTAL TEAM 16 1830 3225 .567
ARIZONA PAC-10/12
PLAYERS OF THE YEAR:
Name (Year) G S PP MIN PR Derrick Williams (2011) 38 38 1190 1141 1.043 Sean Elliott (1989) 33 33 1128 1125 1.003 Chris Mills (1993) 28 28 838 870 .963 Sean Elliott (1988) 38 38 1167 1249 .934 D. Stoudamire (1995) 30 30 964 1092 .883 Mike Bibby (1998) 35 35 905 1124 .805 Jason Terry (1999) 29 29 877 1107 .792 Nick Johnson (2014) 38 38 848 1254 .676
ARIZONA SCHEDULE/PRODUCTIVITY RESULTS
Date Opponent Results TeamPR Productivity Leader Pos PP MIN PR Jan. 11 Oregon St. 58-56 (L) .365 Rondae Hollis-Jefferson SF 26 34 .765 Jan. 8 Oregon 80-62 (W) .590 Rondae Hollis-Jefferson SF 26 25 1.040 Jan. 4 ASU 73-49 (W) .530 Dusan Ristic C 14 11 1.273 Dec. 23 UNLV 71-67 (L) .446 T.J. McConnell PG 28 39 .718 Dec. 19 UTEP 60-55 (W) .395 T.J. McConnell PG 23 35 .657 Dec. 16 Oakland 101-64 (W) .835 Craig Victor PF 13 10 1.300 Dec. 13 Michigan 84-50 (W) .640 Stanley Johnson SF 31 27 1.148 Dec. 9 Utah Valley 87-56 (W) .710 Dusan Ristic C 23 18 1.278 Dec. 6 Gonzaga 66-63 OT (W) .435 Brandon Ashley PF 19 38 .500 Dec. 2 Gardner-Webb 91-65 (W) .745 Parker Jackson-Cartwright PG 17 13 1.308 Nov. 26 San Diego State 61-59 (W) .525 Stanley Johnson SG 29 37 .784 Nov. 25 Kansas State 72-68 (W) .540 Stanley Johnson SG 21 25 .840 Nov. 24 Missouri 72-53 (W) .525 Rondae Hollis-Jefferson SF 25 23 1.087 Nov. 19 Cal-Irvine 71-54 (W) .610 Rondae Hollis-Jefferson SF 31 29 1.069 Nov. 16 Cal State-Northridge 86-68 (W) .605 Rondae Hollis-Jefferson SF 26 22 1.182 Nov. 14 Mt. St. Mary's 78-55 (W) .660 Rondae Hollis-Jefferson SF 28 21 1.333
ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He has also written articles for Bleacher Report and Lindy’s College Sports.
