Growing Pains for Arizona

Arizona’s growing pains were acute over the weekend.

The 84-77 loss at New Mexico didn’t hurt much in the rankings -- the Wildcats (2-1) gave up No. 11 to the Lobos and tumbled to No. 15 -- but it forced them to take stock with a tough schedule ahead.

Arizona plays No. 3 Utah on Saturday in the John Wooden Classic in Los Angeles, and No. 18 Texas and No. 7 Michigan by Dec. 21.

“It is kind of like a tournament schedule,” Michael Dickerson said Monday. “It is going to help us in the long run. We are getting familiar with the tournament.”

“We need all the games we can get,” said coach Lute Olson. “You can practice and cover things over and over again, but until they have to execute in game situations it is a different scene.”

Some areas in need of being ironed out are finding another scorer besides Dickerson, getting tougher inside and defense.

Dickerson, after back-to-back 31-point games, hit 5-of-18 and had 20 points against New Mexico.

Miles Simon was the team’s only returning starter until he was found academically ineligible until the end of the semester. That left the rest of the team to pick up the slack, a lot to ask of a squad with six freshmen.

Dickerson is the only other returnee who played significant minutes in 1996, and Olson said his play is crucial until Simon returns.

“This will make Michael a better player because he is going to learn to move without the ball,” Olson said. “He is going to draw the best defensive player every game.”

When Dickerson fails to get open and the other perimeter players are not hitting, the aim is to throw the ball inside.

A.J. Bramlett and Donnell Harris have started, but the Wildcats have also counted on Bennett Davison and Eugene Edgerson without finding a go-to player inside.

“Our shot selection needs some improvement,” Olson said. “We have to get the ball inside more than what we are doing.”

And, everybody needs to play better defense.

All three teams Arizona has faced have received open looks, particularly from beyond the 3-point line, where the Lobos hit 7-of-12 in the first half.

“We learned to have more poise in tight situations. We learned our defense is what hurt us,” Dickerson said. “We watched films, and if we had played a lot better defense, we would have beaten them by 15 on their court.”