You gotta defend

Gabe York was a big time high school scoring guard out of southern California who chose to head to Arizona. He has an interesting quote in a recent Bruce Pascoe-written article:

T.J. McConnell defended a lot of talented perimeter players in practice while redshirting last season and one thing about Gabe York stood out.

“I couldn’t give him any room,” McConnell said, “because if he got open for a shot it’s going in.”

Still, York played in only 15 of 35 games because, he said, something else was lacking.

“I didn’t play defense in high school,” York said today, when he and McConnell were made available to media at McKale Center. “It was hard to translate from going from a high school where I had to score the ball, and I had to stay on the court mainly for offense, to come in here where people were just as good as I was and having to play defense. So I think definitely this year it clicked in my mind that offense is always going to be there. I’ve got play defense to get on the court...”

Come college ball, if you don't stop someone then you watch a lot more than you want to.