EUGENE, Oregon — Arizona head coach Sean Miller addressed his team late Saturday morning, passed the reins to top assistant Lorenzo Romar and was gone — maybe, after eight-plus seasons leading the program, never to return to the Arizona sidelines again.

The decision for Miller to step away for at least Saturday night’s game at Oregon came less than 24 hours after ESPN reported FBI wiretaps had intercepted phone conversations between the head coach and Christian Dawkins — an employee for ASM Sports agent Andy Miller — during which they discussed paying $100,000 to ensure that Deandre Ayton, Arizona’s star freshman center, would sign with the Wildcats.

“I believe it is in the best interest of our team that I not coach the game tonight,” Miller said in a statement Saturday afternoon. “I continue to fully support the University’s efforts to fully investigate this matter and am confident that I will be vindicated. For now, my thoughts are with our team. They are a great group of young men that will support each other and continue their pursuit of winning a Pac-12 championship.”

That pursuit continued Saturday night with Ayton in the lineup.

Miller’s players had just a few hours to regroup before taking on Oregon at a sold-out Matthew Knight Arena. And at first it appeared they were using the turmoil as a rallying point: Arizona led 43-37 at halftime, as Ayton turned in one of his most dominant halves of his young career. The Wildcats were energetic. They were physical. But two days after playing overtime to secure a win at Oregon State, Arizona eventually ran out of gas in a 98-93 overtime loss to Oregon.

Ayton, who was not made available to the media after Saturday’s contest, finished with 28 points and 19 rebounds against the Ducks, but his final made field goal came with more than 10 minutes remaining in the second half.

“I can only imagine what he’s going through,” said Arizona senior guard Parker Jackson-Cartwright. “There’s a big spotlight on him. But like I said, he comes each day ready to work, he handles himself like a professional, he gets better — and without him, we’re not here, we’re not playing like we are.

“He’s a big reason for our success, and we need him to keep playing.”

For now, it looks like the Wildcats will continue to have Ayton in the lineup, but Miller’s future is less clear.

Romar, the former longtime Washington head coach, had little insight into what to expect in the days ahead for Arizona. He said he didn’t know if he’ll be in charge of practice when it resumes in Tucson this week, let alone if he would remain at the helm for the rest of the season. As for when there might be some clarity on those issues, he said he didn’t know that, either.

“It’s just a situation that was tough,” Romar said. “If our leader isn’t out there with us — I don’t think we’ve gone out and done anything without him being there, his presence — but again, I thought our guys were phenomenal in how we came about and began that game.”

Romar said he did not take part in any discussions about potentially keeping Ayton out of the lineup, but he was informed Saturday that Ayton would be available.

“I think [Ayton has] handled it like a professional,” Jackson-Cartwright said. “He is a high-character guy. He really cares about his teammates, and he gives his all. He gives his all, regardless. I think the last 24 hours have been really probably difficult for him, but he’s handled it like a professional.”

Prior to Saturday’s game, a lawyer representing Ayton’s family released a statement saying the family members were “outraged and disgusted by recent news stories which have falsely implied” any involvement in the matter.

“[Ayton] directly stated to the FBI, more than six months ago, that he never discussed or solicited payments from the University of Arizona, or any other university, or any shoe company or anyone on behalf of either — period. This includes basketball and anything else,” the statement said.

Ayton, a 7-foot-1 center who was born in the Bahamas, is considered one of the top freshmen in the country and a leading candidate for national player of the year honors. He is averaging 19.6 points and 10.9 rebounds in what is expected to be his only college season.

The Arizona Board of Regents met in an emergency executive session Saturday “to receive legal advice regarding the issue and plans to reconvene for updates and legal advice in the coming days.”

“This is an emotionally charged issue but it is essential that we move forward decisively and based on facts. We must do everything we can to ensure that our programs are of the highest caliber as we must also protect the rights of all involved and respect due process for employees,” regents chair Bill Ridenour said in a statement.

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With Miller status unknown, Arizona plays on
With Miller status unknown, Arizona plays on
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Source: ESPN SPORTS

OAKLAND, Calif. — Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook accused Golden State Warriors center Zaza Pachulia of intentionally trying to hurt him when Pachulia landed on his leg late in the third quarter of the Warriors’ 112-80 win Saturday night.

Westbrook drove to the basket and shot a contested floater over Nick Young, with Pachulia trailing the play. The ball hit the front of the rim, and Westbrook and Young jumped for the rebound, clashing with each other before collapsing to the hardwood.

Pachulia, standing nearby, somehow fell to the ground and landed on Westbrook’s left leg. Pachulia then got up to join his team on offense. Upon impact, Westbrook immediately reached for his knee and began shaking his head in disbelief.

When reporters attempted to ask Westbrook afterward if he thought the incident was intentional, he had a feisty back-and-forth exchange.

Westbrook: “What do you mean what happened? What’d you think what happened? Don’t lie, don’t lie, you saw the instant replay four times. What happened?”

Reporter: “He fell on your leg”

Westbrook: “Thank you. Don’t ask me a dumb question you know the answer to.”

Reporter: “Did you see it?”

Westbrook: “What did it look like? What it look like? Anybody touch him? Yes or no?”

Reporter: “I didn’t see the replay.”

Westbrook: “Oh, you didn’t see it? But why you asking about something you didn’t see? Well then if you didn’t see it, don’t ask me a question. Don’t ask me dumb questions, man. Obviously, it was intentional. So don’t ask me if it was intentional. Nobody touched him, he fell on my leg, tried to hurt me. But hey, that’s how it goes.”

On if the NBA needs to address it, Westbrook said, “Hey man, they’ll see it and look at it, you know what I’m saying? They’ll see it.”

Asked if Pachulia is a dirty player, he said, “Yeah, for sure. For sure.”

Boston Celtics guard Kyrie Irving even weighed in on Instagram, posting: “The league has to take a look at this, man. This s— is ridiculous.”

“You know Zaza,” Thunder forward Paul George said. “You know his history. You know nobody pushed him. He aimed where he was gonna fall. That’s Zaza making a Zaza play. He’s on the end of hurting a lot of guys.”

When ESPN approached Pachulia about Westbrook’s accusation, he said, “No comment. That’s childish. Come on. I’m not responding to that.”

Westbrook appeared to be very heated about the incident after the game, privately showing other players and staffers video of the play.

The two players have a little history dating back to last season.

During a January 2017 game against the Warriors, Westbrook used an Enes Kanter screen and attempted to turn the corner, but Pachulia stepped up and rammed his body into Westbrook, sending him to the floor. Pachulia then stood over Westbrook for a few seconds while staring him down. Pachulia received a flagrant 1 foul.

“He hit me kind of hard, but it’s all right,” Westbrook said at the time. “I’m going to get his ass back. Straight up. … I’m going to get his ass back. Whenever that is, I don’t know when it’s going to be, but I don’t play that game.”

Pachulia has dealt with similar controversy with other players.

In Game 1 of the 2017 Western Conference finals against the San Antonio Spurs, Kawhi Leonard suffered a left ankle injury after Pachulia slid under his foot on the jump shot. The injury kept him out the remainder of the postseason as the Warriors swept the series.

The incident caused an angry Gregg Popovich to unleash his fury at Pachulia in a postgame interview.

“Who gives a damn what his intent was?” Popovich said then. “Have you ever heard of manslaughter? You still go to jail, I think, when you’re texting and you end up killing somebody, but may have not intended to do that. All I care is what I saw. All I care about is what happened. And the history there exasperates the whole situation and makes me very, very angry.”

Pachulia, who came off the bench for the second straight game and supplied 4 points, 6 rebounds and 1 block in 19 minutes Saturday night, had at least one person paying him a compliment.

“He just did a good job of being physical, staying in the game, boxing out and being in the right place,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “The same things he’s been doing for two years for us, he did tonight.”

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Westbrook on Pachulia: 'He tried to hurt me'
Westbrook on Pachulia: 'He tried to hurt me'
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Source: ESPN SPORTS

OAKLAND, Calif. — Leaning deep into the left corner, Nick Young let a 3 fly as the buzzer sounded on the third quarter, holding his pose and then breaking out a shimmy right in front of the Oklahoma City Thunder bench as the ball splashed through the net.

Russell Westbrook popped up to give Young a shove for the showboating, but much like the game for the Thunder, it was too late.

The bucket punctuated a 14-0 run for the Warriors to finish the last 3:54 of the third, breaking open what had been a back-and-forth rock fight with the Thunder, and it carried Golden State to a soft landing in a 112-80 win. After two previous blowouts losses to the Thunder — one in Oklahoma City and one in Oakland — the Warriors cleansed themselves by getting back to some basics, namely making lots of 3s and riding the wave of momentum.

It was all a long time coming for the Thunder, who opened the game hitting 6 of 28 (21.4 percent) field goals in the first quarter. They stayed in the contest with some stingy defense and dominant rebounding, and OKC actually led 59-56 with 7:52 left in the third. But with Paul George shooting 1-of-14, Westbrook going 4-of-15 and Carmelo Anthony 6-of-17 — that’s 11-of-46 (23.9 percent) for 34 points combined — eventually the whole not-making-shots thing caught up to the Thunder.

George, who has torched the Warriors this season, didn’t hit his first shot until midway through the third after missing his opening nine attempts. No amount of rebounding and defense can keep you close to the Warriors when you shoot like that; the Thunder finished with a 33.0 field goal percentage.

And while plenty of that had to do with a clearly renewed defensive disposition for the Warriors, a lot of it came on clean, rhythm looks from the Thunder — such as when George air-balled a first quarter 3 as he stood alone and uncontested on the wing, and when Westbrook came up short to the point of almost air-balling on a driving lefty layup later in the quarter.

“It happens like that,” Westbrook said. “Put ourselves in positions to win games and couldn’t make shots when we needed to. But I’m definitely not worried one bit.”

Even with the injury to Andre Roberson, the Thunder, maybe more than any other team, have developed a scheme to disrupt the Warriors’ offense. The Thunder use their length, size and activity to take away a lot of the Warriors’ passing and moving by trapping on pick-and-rolls and forcing turnovers.

But Golden State coach Steve Kerr is obviously a savvy tactician himself, and an adjustment the Warriors made was to use the Thunder’s tendency to overplay — especially that of George — against them with more back cutting off the wings. It unlocked many of the features for the Warriors, getting them into those 4-on-3 situations in which a drive leads to a pass that leads to another pass that leads to a wide-open shot.

It wouldn’t be Thunder-Warriors without some emotional activity, though. It started with Anthony and Kevin Durant having words after Anthony gave Durant a shove. Interestingly, Westbrook was the player farthest away from the scuffle, standing a good 20 feet away and bent over with his hands on his knees as Durant and Anthony had to be separated. The altercation resulted in double technical fouls for Durant and Anthony.

Anthony scuffled again later, this time with Draymond Green. Green caught Anthony in the face after a foul call, making Anthony so heated that he ripped off his headband and spiked it onto the floor before doing some extended chatting with Green and other Warriors.

“I just told him congratulations on what he was doing back in PG County, with the kids,” Anthony joked when asked about the Durant incident, referring to Prince George’s County in Maryland. “That’s it.”

That led into a run-in between Westbrook and Zaza Pachulia late in the third, when Pachulia fell onto Westbrook’s leg under the basket, an act Westbrook deemed intentional.

“Obviously, it was intentional,” Westbrook said. “So don’t ask me if it was intentional. Nobody touched him, he fell on my leg, tried to hurt me. But hey, that’s how it goes.”

It was all frustrating for the Thunder, with George picking up his own technical foul early in the fourth, before he joined the other starters on the bench to watch as Young and Pachulia cleaned up in garbage time.

There have been three Thunder-Warriors games this season, and all three have finished with stars watching from the sideline. There have been several reasons for that, on both sides, but in this case, it was the power and proficiency of the Warriors in capitalizing on a miserable night for the Thunder. Durant (28 points on 10 of 20 shooting) is a problem for anyone, and when the Thunder were hanging around, he kept popping shots on curling 3s. Stephen Curry eventually joined in (21 points, 5-of-12 from 3), setting the stage for Young to dance on the Thunder.

“We just didn’t want to lose,” Durant said. “We know we can get beat by this team, obviously, if we don’t come and play with force. We did that on both ends of the court.

There’s one more of these to go — April 3 in Oklahoma City — and maybe it will be the one that features some big names on the floor at the finish line. The Thunder have held their heads high this season by beating good teams, but like their uncharacteristically poor shooting on Saturday, perhaps that eventually was going to catch up to them.

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This time, it's Golden State's turn to blow out Oklahoma City
This time, it's Golden State's turn to blow out Oklahoma City
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Source: ESPN SPORTS

A lawyer representing the family of Deandre Ayton called allegations involving the Arizona star freshman false and urged the FBI, the NCAA and the university to come out publicly and clear his name.

In a statement, attorney Lynden B. Rose said Ayton’s family is “outraged and disgusted” by reports that “have falsely implied that her son or his family have any involvement in illegal or prohibited activities regarding his decision to matriculate at the University of Arizona.”

In a story published Friday night, ESPN reported that FBI wiretaps intercepted phone conversations between Wildcats coach Sean Miller and Christian Dawkins, an employee for ASM Sports agent Andy Miller. According to sources familiar with the government’s evidence, Miller and Dawkins discussed paying $100,000 to ensure that Ayton would sign with the Wildcats.

Ayton, a 7-foot-1 center who was born in the Bahamas, eventually committed to Arizona and has since become one of the nation’s best players, averaging 19.6 points and 10.9 rebounds and considered a high-lottery pick in this year’s NBA draft.

In the statement released on behalf of Ayton’s family Saturday, Rose said Ayton told the FBI last year “that he never discussed or solicited payments from the University of Arizona, or any other university, or any shoe company or anyone on behalf of either — period. This includes basketball and anything else.”

Rose said Ayton’s decision to commit to the Wildcats was based on “family ties to Phoenix” as well as his familiarity with the program and the area; he previously played at Hillcrest Prep Academy in Phoenix.

“Although the FBI does not routinely do so (although exceptions have been made), DeAndre’s family certainly believes it is appropriate for that law enforcement agency, as well as NCAA and University of Arizona, to make public statements which unquestionably clears DeAndre’s good name,” the statement said.

In a statement earlier Saturday, Arizona said Ayton is eligible and will play Saturday night at Oregon. Miller, meanwhile, will not coach in Eugene, with both he and the university saying they agreed it would be in their best interest for him not to be on the sideline.

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Ayton family lawyer: Allegations are false
Ayton family lawyer: Allegations are false
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Source: ESPN SPORTS