Brian Joyce (@bjoyce_hoops) is an RTC correspondent and writer for the SEC microsite. He filed this report after Saturday’s Clemson-Arizona game in Littlejohn Coliseum in Clemson, South Carolina.
Littlejohn Coliseum was rockin’ on Saturday night when Clemson hosted the No. 8 Arizona Wildcats. With just over 11 minutes left in the game, Clemson had a young Arizona team on the ropes with a six-point lead. The Tigers were hosting their first Top 25 non-conference opponent since 2000, and were hoping for their first victory over such a foe since a win over South Carolina in the 1997-98 season. The Wildcats were rattled, and could have easily thrown in the towel. But senior point guard Mark Lyons wouldn’t allow his Wildcats to lose. When the college basketball world tuned into ESPN2 to determine if a collection of freshmen from one of the nation’s top 10 teams could respond in a hostile environment, it was the transfer from Xavier who put the team on his back. In crunch time, Lyons scored eight points, dished out two assists, and came up with one steal. He may not be a natural fit at the point guard position, but he solidified his standing as Arizona’s team leader.
Lyons committed just one turnover on Saturday night, and it came within the first four minutes of the game. He did not turn the ball over once after that. He was the ultimate senior leader for a team playing in a hostile environment needing a lift. He finished the contest with 20 points on 7-of-13 shooting, four rebounds, and a perfect 5-of-5 from the free throw line. Some continue to criticize Lyons’ play at point guard with the argument that he commits too many turnovers and does not pass the ball enough. Don’t count his coach among the skeptics.
Arizona coach Sean Miller recognizes the boost Lyons gave Arizona. “You know, Mark Lyons, I’m not sure why he’s easy to criticize,” Miller said. “I feel like he takes on criticism that he doesn’t really deserve. Think about this, he’s been at Arizona for a grand total of seven games. He’s playing with a new team, and for the first time in his career he’s playing only the point guard. In fairness to him, you have to give him a little bit more than seven games. I think if you watched him play tonight, you can make the argument that he might have been the best player on the court. He had four assists and one turnover. He didn’t all of a sudden figure it out between last week and this week. It’s just a little bit like our freshmen, I think the more that he practices, and the more that he plays, the more he’ll settle in and do the things I know he can do.” Miller should know. He recruited Lyons and his former teammate Tu Holloway at Xavier before Lyons transferred to be with Miller at Arizona.
Arizona passed its first big test of the season on Saturday, but Miller’s team turns right around with quite possibly its biggest test of the regular season, the Florida Gators, next weekend. Miller knows he will rely even more on Lyons’ progress to lead the Wildcats against the veteran SEC squad. “One of the things he’s really good at is when the going gets tough, he rises up,” Miller stated. Perhaps his leadership will rub off on the rest of Arizona’s squad, as it did Saturday night against Clemson. “He has a confidence in our huddle and a toughness about him when going against confident players because he’s been in so many big games,” Miller said. “He’s contagious. And I thought one of the reasons we continued to stay with it and fight in the second half was his disposition.”