Chris Coduto/Arizona Daily Wildcat Arizona's Jawann McClellan and Chris Rodgers (13) leave the court, dejected after Arizona lost 73-68 to Oregon, Saturday Jan. 14, 2006 at McArthur Court in Eugene, Ore.

After being swept by Oregon schools, Arizona attempts to get back on track

After raising expectations by starting the Pacific 10 Conference season with a road sweep of the Washington schools, the Wildcats must look to rebound after a devastating sweep in Oregon.

Head coach Lute Olson said the Arizona men's basketball team was playing like a "mediocre ball club" after losses at the hands of Oregon and Oregon State. The Wildcats have dropped three of four and have gotten off to their worst start since the 1986-87 season at 10-6, as well as their worst conference start since 1984-85 at 3-3. In the ESPN/USA Today poll, unranked Arizona garnered a whopping total of one vote.

"Where do we have to go? We have to win games from here. The bottom line is we need to win this Thursday and this Saturday," assistant coach Josh Pastner said. "I don't want to hear about our effort or how hard we play or this or that. The bottom line in this profession, it is determined on wins or losses."

While the offense was sputtering early in the season, Arizona's defense was suffocating opponents, forcing turnovers and keeping the team in the game. Through the first six Pac-10 games, the defense has been anything but stellar, giving up a 47.7 percent field goal percentage to opponents.

Arizona allowed Oregon to shoot over 71.4 percent from the field in the second half and Oregon State shot 61.4 percent the entire game.

"We need to take every possession and lay it all on the floor. We cannot have breakdowns, and that's the bottom line," Pastner said. "We have to be mentally tough."

In their six losses, Arizona has let opponents shoot 54.4 percent and average 75.8 points per game.

"It's an attitude," associate head coach Jim Rosborough said. "Are you going to defend your guy or are you not going to defend your guy? Obviously there are team principles, but it boils down to defending your guy. We go over scouting reports and this guy is a good 3-point shooter ... and yet we're playing guys with hands down, and they're hitting shots."

At Oregon State, Arizona allowed Beavers sophomore forward Sasa Cuic (13 points, 4-of-7 field goals) and senior forward Nick DeWitz (20 points, 3-of-3 3-point field goals) to dominate the stat sheet, despite being two guys Arizona had looked to key on defensively.

"It really boils down to a defensive attitude," Rosborough said.

Meanwhile, Arizona's shooting has not gotten any better despite the return of sophomore guard Jawann McClellan, as they shot less than 43 percent on the road trip. The slow start at Oregon State, down 14-0, didn't go over well with Olson as he tinkered with the line-up.

Lineup changes

The Wildcats have made changes, turning to sophomore guard McClellan as the new starter and having senior guard Chris Rodgers come off the bench. Despite the fact that he wasn't in the starting lineup, Rodgers played 38 minutes against Oregon in a sixth-man role he has reluctantly become accustomed to.

McClellan picked up two quick fouls and Rodgers was into the game for good after only two minutes ran off the clock.

"We're just trying to get the guys going on that, and Chris came in and obviously did a really good job defensively," Pastner said.

Rosborough and Pastner both said they were unsure if the lineup would stay the same and that it would be up to Olson to make the final decision.

"It seemed to me the guys kind of learned their lesson from these slow starts," Rosborough said.

He also said that it will take McClellan some time to get into a rhythm.

"I do think on Jawann's behalf, like any kid who has redshirted or sat out for some period of time, it takes you awhile to get back into the groove, " Rosborough said. "It's not something ... that just happens instantaneously."

Earlier in the season, changes were made in the frontcourt with junior center Kirk Walters taking on a role off the bench while freshman forward Marcus Williams was inserted into the starting lineup.

Walters' playing time has diminished recently. On the Oregon trip he played a total of four minutes while turning the ball over twice and grabbing one rebound.

"It's hard to get going for him if he's not getting any playing time, so I'd like to see him get a few more minutes," Pastner said. "Regardless if he's in there for 10 seconds or not, he has to produce, and if he doesn't produce his rear end will be sitting on the bench, bottom line.

"Production equals playing time. I don't care if you're in there for 30 seconds or one minute or 25 minutes, you better have some stats, and stats mean rebounds, making efforts, and making things happen."

The Wildcats had an early wake-up call Monday, practicing from 8 to 10:15 in the morning, and both coaches said the practice was spirited.

Rosborough and Pastner both said Walters had a good practice and each hopes to see him positively affect games in the future.

"We sure could use Kirk because part of our defensive problems are we don't have a guy in there that could get up and affect shots, and that's not something that's in the statistics," Rosborough said. "We need Kirk to step up, no question."

With Stanford coming up on Thursday, Arizona is facing a team that has sometimes given them trouble in the past and from the coaches' viewpoint it can be considered a must-win game.

"Under no circumstances is the season lost or a disaster," Rosborough said. "Everybody is absolutely sick of what's going on. We lost to UCLA here and let (the opposition) shoot this high percentage (in losses) at Oregon State (and) at Oregon.

"Everybody's sick about it, and if they aren't, I am. We have a whole bunch of games left and the biggest thing we have to do is get back on track and get some wins. Winning solves about every problem there is in sports."