Sean Miller: Arizona fans' ovation ‘very, very emotional’

Most of the 14,644 fans on hand Thursday night gave Arizona men's basketball coach Sean Miller a standing ovation every time he walked onto the floor at the McKale Center, a showing that they are firmly behind their coach after what azcentral.com described as perhaps the most turbulent week in program history.

After Arizona's victory over Stanford clinched at least a tie for the Pac-12 regular-season, Miller offered his reaction to the crowd.

"I really didn't know what to think about it, other than it (being) just very, very emotional," Miller said. "Tucson and our fans, they've always been the very, very best to my family and myself. They've supported our basketball program like no other. To see them do that, it was very emotional and something I'll never, ever forget."

Hours earlier, Miller emphatically and defiantly denied in a statement a bombshell ESPN story that alleged Miller's involvement in a discussion of paying five-star freshman Deandre Ayton $100,000 to attend Arizona. Miller missed one game after the story broke ("It wasn't good," Miller said), a loss at Oregon.

ESPN stands by its report, and on Thursday Arizona stood by Miller.

After Thursday's game, he was asked about the week and how tough it had been.

"Right now, for me, it's about focusing on the now, focusing on coaching our team, running this basketball program," Miller said. "This team certainly has dealt with a lot of adversity."