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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Forced to pick somebody in the Arizona Wildcats’ lineup to worry less about last Saturday, Alabama’s Nate Oats made a mathematically sound decision.

Brayden Burries, of course.

Of the starters who have carried the Wildcats to a No. 1 ranking and 9-0 start entering their home game with Abilene Christian on Tuesday, Koa Peat has moved himself into the NBA lottery pick conversation. Motiejus Krivas is a terror down low, Ivan Kharchenkov does a little bit of everything and point guard Jaden Bradley has added go-to scoring to his leadership and playmaking duties.

So Burries it was.

The freshman entered Arizona’s 96-75 win over Alabama on Saturday, shooting just 30% from 3-point range, and was only 1 for 10 against ranked teams. Then he went 1 for 6 from 3 in the first half Saturday, after which Alabama led 41-39.

“We loved him coming out of high school,� Oats said after the game. “Really good player. He'd struggled quite a bit shooting it up until this point and we were banking ...�

Oats didn’t really finish that thought, transitioning instead into how many 3-pointers Arizona shot as a team. Didn’t need to finish it. Actions had already done the talking.

For the first two of what became 15 straight points scored for the Wildcats in the second half Saturday, Burries caught a pass on the break from Kharchenkov and took it in for a layup. Then, after Alabama’s Taylor Bol Bowen sagged off several feet inside the 3-point line, Burries drilled an easy 3 with 13 minutes left.

He was off. A 19-footer off a screen from Tobe Awaka followed, then a driving layup, a contested 3 in the corner and another 3 created by stepping back to create some space.

“Brayden got on a little bit of heater,� UA coach Tommy Lloyd said. “I trust him when he's doing that, and it was pretty special. Some of those 3s he makes in transition, that's the stuff we've seen him do when we were recruiting him, and so for him do it on this kind of stage was pretty cool.�

Earlier this season, Lloyd had said Burries just needed more “at-bats,� and Burries recognized as much. He was California's Gatorade Player of the Year and a McDonald's All-American, but didn't have the high-level international experience Peat and Kharchenkov had.

In his first college game, before a national TNT audience against defending national champion Florida, Burries fouled out and wasn’t a factor. Peat and Kharchenkov played leading roles while Burries fouled out in 17 minutes.

Arizona then beat UCLA despite Burries going 1 for 6 from 3-point range and missing all three two-pointers he tried. Later, the Wildcats beat UConn despite Burries scoring just four points without an assist in 19 minutes.

If there were whispers — anyone wondering if he would live up to his high school billing — Burries says he didn’t hear them.

“Nah, I just keep my circle small,� Burries said Saturday. “You know, never get too high, never get too low. Just stay steady and play hard. And the main objective is to win. So whether you score 30 or score two, as long as we're winning, I feel like it'll take care of itself.�

Burries had more reason to believe it was coming against Alabama. Bradley had told him in the locker room at halftime that the Wildcats would need him to keep shooting and Burries was already aiming to turn it around.

So he kept going.

“I feel like (the) only way to get the percentages up is to keep shooting,� Burries said. “They can't go up when you stop shooting. ... If they’re they gonna play off you, trust it and have confidence in it.�

He had shown signs of a turnaround. In between UA’s games against ranked teams, Burries averaged 15.5 points and shot 40.0% from 3-point range in UA’s four home games against low- or mid-major teams.

Then, finally, Burries carried that momentum into a high-major home game against Auburn, where he collected 16 points and five rebounds on Dec. 6.

“Coach (Lloyd) always said experience is the best� teacher, Burries said. “And me learning from experiences, from the first game to now — the fouling against Florida, (knowing when) not to foul, and then the tempo. Now, I'm starting to understand it. So it's starting to click for me.�

No more so than in that 15-point flurry midway through the second half Saturday. When it ended, the Wildcats led 75-54 with nine minutes left and they never trailed by fewer than 18 the rest of the way.

Afterward, Oats partially blamed his defense, but he also knew this was the sort of thing Burries was capable of. Burries had been a five-star recruit out of Southern California, starring on a Nike club team with UA freshman Bryce James and Mississippi State center Tee Williams.

That guy showed up this time, not the one Oats had seen on video this season. The Crimson Tide's defense may not have realized exactly what kind of player it was facing, either.

“Two guys switched on him, sat there and watched him come off the dribble and shoot right in their face,� Oats said. “Maybe this will be the game to get him going. He’d been struggling a little bit there for their first eight games and he didn’t struggle tonight.�

He may be a different player now.

“It’s starting to get more comfortable, and starting to get established,� Burries said. “Honestly, it’s just learning, playing freely. It’s starting to feel like high school again. It’s just playing basketball and not overthinking it.�