Arizona vs. Utah: Solomon Hill Ejected, but Wildcats Still Blow out Utes

Nastiness is a Sean Miller staple. It's on tape.

That feature was crucial to last year's sprint into the Elite Eight—well, that and the play of last year's No. 2 NBA draft pick, Derrick Williams. And that edge is starting to become ingrained yet again in this year's version.

But this season it's being brought about by more confrontational means.

Star forward Solomon Hill was ejected in the second half of Arizona's 77-51 victory over a bad Utah team—which just parted ways with its leading scorer—in Salt Lake City, just under two minutes into the second half.

The 6'6" forward out of Los Angeles delivered what appeared to be a purposely-thrown elbow (at least in the eyes of the officials) to the back of the head of Utah's Cedric Martin while the duo battled for position in the lane.

A strange thing happened right after that: Arizona played one its best halves of basketball all year.

When Hill—the team’s leading scorer, rebounder and distributor—was sent to the locker room, the score was 35-30 Arizona.

Just over three minutes later, the game was over.

Miller noted that it wasn't Hill's finest night to begin with, but he liked the response from the rest of the lineup (via Arizona Daily Star):

"

Solomon wasn't playing well. It's not as if we lost him on a real good night. He wasn't having a good night. We're clearly a better team with him. But in that brief moment when he left, we answered like you'd want a team to answer.

"

Small forward Kevin Parrom—still playing with bullet fragments lodged in his leg—took full advantage of Hill's departure, sparking a 20-4 spree with his high-arching three-point stroke, hitting two in the run, while also getting active on the boards.

That outburst extended Arizona's lead from 35-30 to 55-34, basically ending the night with over 12 minutes to play.

And it wasn’t just Parrom who took over for the absence of the program’s top option.

Nick Johnson, Arizona's hyper-athletic freshman shooting guard, finally appeared to regain some confidence, hitting three of his four three-point looks.

And Kyle Fogg was as efficient as he’s been all season, going 4-for-7 from the field and totaling 12 points.

The Arizona defense, the program's main redeeming asset this season, was effective yet again, holding Utah to just 40 percent from field goal range and 25 from beyond the arc.

The story of the night, however, was Hill's elbow and the aftermath of the incident. It seemed to re-energize Arizona, crisp ball movement suddenly leading to open looks and converted opportunities.

For 18 minutes, Arizona was something it hasn't been for most of the season: Fun to watch.

Hill is still Arizona’s best player.

His foul may have been out of frustration for having to try to carry this year’s crew at times this season. Miller didn't seem convinced that the elbow was purposely thrown from the following quotes (Arizona Daily Star), and any future discipline is unknown: 

"

The game's changed. An incident like that five years ago, there would be no monitor to go to. A few years back it would just be chalked up to physical play. We never want our players to be dirty in any way. So if that's what happened we'll deal with Solomon. 

I would like to think that it wasn't a malicious hit. But I have to see it first.

"

The rest of the rotation cleaned up that blunder and dominated an out-manned Utah squad (the worst team in the Pac-12, and it's not close) for the duration.

Coming on the heels of Arizona’s skirmish with Oregon State in overtime last Thursday, when a tussle between Fogg and Jared Cunningham led to a shoving match, Arizona seems to have taken on a new, if sometimes ill-advised, toughness.

Finally.

Arizona plays Colorado (which is 10-1 at home) on Saturday, with a chance to climb back into the Pac-12 title hunt. They might have to do it without Hill, given any potential penalty for the incident.

Still, their edge may be their edge.