Wildcats gaining confidence after rocky start

TUCSON, Ariz. -- All of a sudden, Arizona has momentum.

Along with it has come a swagger. There's a confidence that wasn't there just a month ago and definitely wasn't there before Christmas.

But it's also what Arizona coach Sean Miller was talking about three months ago when he talked about improving by February.

"We're on the steady climb of being a good team," Miller said.

And yes, Miller said, confidence is a big thing. It was, in fact, the buzz word Thursday night after Arizona beat visiting Colorado 71-57 in McKale Center to move to 17-8 overall and 8-4 in the Pac-12.

"I will say this, though: I don't have any serum and any way of injecting into the players," Miller said. "It comes from within and it comes from success. It comes from a locker room that really believes."

Arizona believes.

A month ago, who would have thought after UA's loss to UCLA that the team would be in this spot? How about after it lost to Oregon at home? Or even after UA's disappointing loss to Washington just two weeks ago? Yet Miller talked about handling the loss well, getting back to work and not letting the past impact the future.

"One of the things I'm not going to get caught up in is that we're a completely different team," Miller said. "We've played some very good basketball."

This team also has been unlucky at times, both at home and on the road. Some of the struggles were the Wildcats' own undoing in that they missed free throws and failed to keep control of the ball. But Arizona has learned.

Thursday night was a perfect example. UA hit its free throws (26 of 35) and had just 11 turnovers. It was good to do it in McKale Center, Miller said.

Heck, Miller still gets anxious when the 'Cats play at home, in part because they haven't played as well in McKale as they have on the road.

"I hadn't gotten that good feeling, that confident feeling we had established a year ago," Miller said of playing at home. "We just hadn't played as well at McKale. Tonight we did, though. The way we played was very reminiscent of our performances on the road."

It was accomplished exactly how Arizona usually accomplishes good things: by poking, nibbling, prodding and pestering. This team does those things because it has to -- and it's become good at it.

"With the defense I saw tonight," Miller said, "it really doesn't surprise me that we can match up with anyone out there."

All the pestering eventually wore Colorado out after the two teams played relatively even for about 30 minutes.

"Our game just wasn't there in the second half to beat a good Arizona team at home," Colorado coach Tad Boyle said.

With the score tied at 39-39, Arizona went on a 14-5 run. Jesse Perry got a basket after an offensive rebound. Josiah Turner scored on a three-point play. Kyle Fogg hit a layup. And to end Arizona's pull-away run, freshman Angelo Chol threw down a dunk.

Bam. Bam. Bam.

All of a sudden, Arizona had a double-digit lead. As Kyle Fogg put it, the "older guys" came through for Arizona.

"It's up to us to stay consistent with this," Fogg said.

Perry led the way with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Solomon Hill had 16 points and 14 rebounds. Fogg scored 15. The blows came so steadily in the second half that they apparently felt twice as bad as they really were.

"Arizona was able to hit shots that they missed in our gym," said Colorado's Carlos Brown. "I think they had six guys in double digits ... and they played a lot better (than in the last meeting)."

Then again, that was so last month.

"We're a lot more confident," Hill said. "Guys know their roles. They know what they need to do, and there's no more questioning it."

And Arizona is doing it with seven guys due to the absence of Kevin Parrom and Jordin Mayes, each of whom suffered foot injuries in the last couple of weeks. Mayes could return before the season ends; Parrom is out for the rest of the year.

"We have good chemistry right now," Miller said. "We're playing with togetherness and we're playing hard. We just have to keep that going."

Undeniably, Miller said, Arizona could use the two, but how do you argue with a three-game win streak and some of the team's best basketball of the season in that stretch?

"We've won," Hill said. "Three in a row is always good. I think the guys just need to keep that momentum going into the next game."

It helps they've found a nice compliment player in Chol, who has emerged as a quality bench player over the last couple of weeks. He, too, admitted he's more confident in part because his teammates are more confident in him.

"He's come around good," Hill said. "He's boxing out and getting rebounds and finishing. That's all we are asking him to do. The minutes are going to be there for him. He just needs to go out and prove it now."

As does Arizona when it comes to finishing strong.

"If right now we make every game life or death, it's just no fun," Miller said. "It's just no fun to coach. It's no fun to play. You lose sight of the importance to practice. We're doing a good job of practicing and getting ready for the game. What you are seeing is, once the ball is tipped, the byproduct of a team doing things the right way."