Colorado coach Tad Boyle has spent the past couple of weeks answering questions about the air up there. You know, at mile-high Boulder, Colo.
It definitely makes a difference, Boyle said. There is less oxygen, and if you're not accustomed to it, breathing is more difficult.
Arizona wonders if making a basket is harder, too. The Wildcats returned home from their first trip to play the Pac-12's new members, having secured only a split after beating Utah 77-51 and then losing at Colorado 64-63.
The Wildcats shot 34.5 percent at Colorado, missing all but three of their 20 attempts from the 3-point arc.
"I don't know if it was altitude; it just wasn't falling," forward Jesse Perry said. "That's really what is was."
Nick Johnson, Jordin Mayes, Kevin Parrom and Brendon Lavender combined to shoot 0 for 11 from the 3-point arc.
"I'm not in a slump," said Kyle Fogg, who was 3 of 12 from the field. "I just missed a few shots I normally make."
Coach Sean Miller actually thought his team played a pretty good game. The Wildcats had just 11 turnovers, outrebounded the Buffaloes 44-35 and attempted more free throws than Colorado.
"We had enough good play to win," Miller said. "I thought our effort level was great. Any time you have a plus-nine (rebounding advantage) on the glass, you get to the foul line as many times as we did and you take care of the ball the way we did, you're putting yourself in a great way to win."
But they lost anyway.
The altitude? Miller preferred to say his team just missed shots.
"One of the things I really don't like to say is we just couldn't make a shot, because it almost sounds like a cop-out as a coach, but that is the case," Miller said. "Colorado does a good job on defense. But I would say we had six or eight shots that I would consider the best shot in the gym for us -- wide open."
Not enough of them went in.
NOTES, QUOTES
-- F Solomon Hill was ejected from the Utah game after throwing an elbow to the head of Cedric Martin. Coach Sean Miller later said the incident was an act of retaliation. "It's what you've seen, I think, a thousand times in college basketball -- Solomon responded to what I would call an equally flagrant foul by Utah," Miller told the Arizona Daily Star. "It was on the same play. A lot of times (when) it happens, the second guy gets caught."
A Pac-12 spokesmen said the conference reviewed tape of the incident and decided game officials acted appropriately.
The Wildcats hit 12 of 24 shots from 3-point range in the win over Utah, then went just 3 for 20 in the loss at Colorado.
-- SG Kyle Fogg was 8 for 9 from the free-throw line at Colorado, but he missed the front end of a one-and-one opportunity with 1:01 left that could have given Arizona the lead.
BY THE NUMBERS: 0 -- Points the Wildcats got from their bench players at Colorado other than the six points scored by Kevin Parrom. The others were shut out and went a combined 0 for 8 from the field.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "I don't know if the thin air made them go long or short. But, to me, open shots are the ones that we have to make." -- Arizona coach Sean Miller, after the Wildcats went just 3 for 20 from 3-point range in their 64-63 loss to Colorado at mile-high Boulder, Colo.
PLAYER NOTES
-- Freshman SG Nick Johnson, a starter most of the year, played against
Colorado after bruising his collarbone in the win at Utah. However, he
didn't get much done, scoring just two points on 1-of-5 shooting in 23
minutes. He missed all three of his 3-point tries.
-- Senior F Jesse Perry had 20 points and 10 rebounds in the loss at Colorado, his team-leading seventh double-double of the season through Jan. 22.
-- Junior F Solomon Hill bounced back nicely from a poor performance at Utah to provide 10 points and 10 rebounds in the loss at Colorado, his sixth double-double. Hill was ejected late in the Utah game for throwing an elbow after going 1 for 7 with five points.
-- Junior G Kevin Parrom scored 12 points at Utah, highlighting a bench contribution of 33 points in the easy victory.
