EL PASO — While the Arizona Wildcats alternately struggled with shooting and turnovers Friday at UTEP, T.J. McConnell quietly was flirting with a triple-double.
The UA point guard picked up nine points, seven rebounds, eight assists and — of course — three steals. Basically, he held together the No. 3-ranked Wildcats in their 60-55 win.
Not bad, right?
“I made some stupid mistakes at the end,” McConnell said. “I almost got a 10-second (backcourt violation) call on me that coach (Sean) Miller was on me for. I fouled the guy at the end, and that’s something a fifth-year senior can’t do. I just gotta be smarter than that.”
Uh-huh. Yeah, whatever, says Miller.
“No,” the UA coach said when asked about McConnell’s self-criticism. “He’s the heart and soul of our team. Does it on defense and does it on offense. When we needed a big play, he made it.”
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McConnell did miss 1 of 2 free throws with 47 seconds left, and he fouled UTEP guard C.J. Cooper with 11 seconds left. But the Miners couldn’t capitalize on the foul, with Cooper missing a free throw and, after he rebounded the miss, teammate Lew Stallworth missed a three-pointer.
Besides, McConnell was a critical factor early in the game — with six assists, three rebounds and two steals before halftime — when UTEP forward Vince Hunter was almost singlehandedly bringing the Miners back from UA’s early 15-2 lead.
Hunter had 14 points, nine rebounds (six on offensive) and a steal before halftime. Not only did Miller say the Wildcats might not have won if Hunter didn’t foul out with 8:09 left, but he also said Hunter was the best player UA has faced so far this season.
“I just don’t see guys rebound his own miss like he did very often,” Miller said. “He’s really talented. In the first half it was a tough game because he took over for about a 10-minute stretch in which we didn’t have an answer for him.”
Victor suspended
Freshman forward Craig Victor didn’t make the trip with Arizona to UTEP because of academic issues, Miller said, but the suspension will not continue.
“Craig’s fine,” Miller said. “He didn’t fulfill an academic obligation and he’ll rejoin us when we get back this weekend and be with us for the future.”
UA’s fall semester ended last week, but Miller said Victor does not have any eligibility issues going forward.
Trouble areas
The Wildcats may have improved to 12-0 with the win Friday, but there were still areas they worried about.
Leave it to McConnell to lead that charge. Ahead 15-2 early, the Wildcats lost that lead and trailed UTEP for a total of 2:20 during the game.
One reason: The Wildcats had 10 turnovers in the first half that led to 10 UTEP points.
“I think we sped ourselves up a little bit,” McConnell said. “We made mistakes here and there and that started with me. I turned the ball over a couple of times.
“And when we stand around, we’re easy to guard and we did that for a little stretch of the game.”
Another: UA hit only 15 of 26 (57.7 percent) of its free throws, its fourth-lowest percentage from the line this season. Four players hit 50 percent or less.
“When you don’t make free throws, the game feels funny,” Miller said, “and unless that changes for us, every game we play is going to be like this because we’re 1 of 2 (on average) and that’s something we’ve gotta get better at.”
Arizona is shooting 65.4 percent from the line on the season, the exact same mark as its opponents.
Veterans club
Miller went with a tight playing rotation Friday, using six players for 25 or more minutes, while Elliott Pitts played 10 and freshmen Parker Jackson-Cartwright (five minutes) and Dusan Ristic (three) made only limited appearances.
“We played a lot of younger guys and you could tell it was different for them,” Miller said.
“I felt UTEP’s defense, the hostility of the crowd were things you learn and grow from.”
Stanley Johnson was the only UA freshman to play significant minutes, naturally.
While he had four turnovers, he hardly looked jittery while collecting 17 points, six rebounds and four steals while fans jeered him often.
“It was fun,” Johnson said.
More to come?
The two-year Arizona-UTEP series is over and Miners coach Tim Floyd says he’d love it if Miller wanted to renew it sometime.
Miller has shown a preference to sprinkle in regional nonconference games, even on the road. He has also taken the Wildcats to Texas Tech, New Mexico State and, on Tuesday, will bring them to UNLV.
“We could” renew it, Miller said. “That’s something we can talk about. I respect UTEP and we respect El Paso. It’s nice to jump on a plane and fly only an hour. It’s great when you come here and there’s 12,000 people and a quality team.
“This was a great test for us. Whether we won or lost, I believed we’d be a better team and we’re fortunate to have won.”