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Deandre Ayton celebrates after scoring against UCLA in the Pac-12 semifinal.(Photo: Stephen R. Sylvanie, USA TODAY Sports)
LAS VEGAS — Deandre Ayton, expected to be among the top picks in the 2018 NBA draft, said he wholeheartedly agrees with the people who think he deserves to be taken No. 1 overall.
"Nobody has the competitiveness like me, you know what I'm saying?'' said Ayton, Arizona's 7-1 freshman from the Bahamas. "I think I'm different from everybody else. That's about it. Play hard, I play hard everyday. Got a country on my back that I'm representing.''
His comments came Friday night after Arizona's 78-67 overtime victory over UCLA during the semifinals of the Pac-12 Conference tournament, where Ayton turned in a performance certain to impress NBA scouts.
He had 32 points on 13-of-16 shooting, 14 rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocks — and was entertaining after the game, too.
Ayton was "shocked" when he noticed Magic Johnson, president of the Los Angeles Lakers, sitting courtside at T-Mobile Arena.
"I was like like, 'Yeah, that's a big dude,' " Ayton said. "…Came to the right game.''
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The wrong game for Ayton would have been Thursday, when he scored just 10 points on 4-of-14 shooting and had only six rebounds in Arizona's victory over Colorado. Turns out Ayton had been nervous before his debut in T-Mobile Arena, with its 20,000-seat capacity -- more than 5,000 seats bigger than Arizona's home arena, the McKale Center.
"I mean, that's a big arena, you know what I'm saying?'' Ayton said. "Like, that's a lot of fans, you know? It was just adjusting to the atmosphere. …
"I mean, I seen the nose bleeds seats and those people are up there and I'm like wow.''
On Friday night, it was the fans who were wowed watching a kid who didn't played basketball until middle school. His first love was soccer, which he said he's given up, except for drills he uses for footwork.
How did soccer impact him as a basketball player?
"Not being clumsy,'' he said. "I'm pretty nimble on my feet, you know? Like I can move pretty fast laterally.''
With equal speed, his disposition soured when someone asked his ability to ignore distractions — specifically, the recent ESPN report that Arizona head coach Sean Miller was caught on an FBI wiretap talking about paying $100,000 to ensure Ayton signed with the Wildcats.
"That's full of (expletive).'' said Ayton, who along with Miller has denied any involvement the allegations. "I don't really engage in foolishness, no. I just keep my head on my shoulders and I do what I've got to do.''
But he grew cheerful when asked about Las Vegas, where he is set to play again Saturday night when Arizona plays USC in the tournament championship game.
"I mean, it's lit,'' he said. "I did not know Arizona fans…traveled like this, especially on a neutral court. It feels like a home game at McKale.''
And felt like the potential No. 1 pick of the 2018 NBA draft in June was having fun.
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