There are few plays in a basketball game that Arizona coach Sean Miller values more than a charge.
 
"If you think about a charge, it's a personal foul on the player; sometimes a very good player. Many times it takes away an easy field goal, a shot at the rim, and it's a turnover all on one play," Miller said. "It can change the game."
 
It's clear through eight games this season, the Wildcats have embraced the play Miller loves to see. Arizona has taken 25 charges this season, often changing the game the way Miller wants.
 
And, believe it or not, Chase Jeter, the player on Arizona's roster who has taken more than half of those charges, doesn't think the play is all that hard to make.
 
"If I'm being completely honest, all you have to do is take a hit and fall," Jeter said simply. "You get tired within the play, and you get a chance to take a hit and just fall. Your teammates help you up, and it's easy. You just have to fall."
 
Jeter's explanation of a charge may be the primary reason he's taken 13 of them in eight games this season. For the 6-foot-10-inch redshirt junior center out of Las Vegas, it's "easy" to do and sets a positive example for his teammates.
 
Yes, Jeter is averaging 12.6 points per game and grabbing a team-best 7.5 rebounds a contest, but his ability to take charges –something that won't show up in the postgame box score—is what can have the biggest impact on a game.
 
"I think it can change the course of the game at any given moment," Jeter said. "It's an energy play. My teammates know how important it is. Coach knows how important it is. Especially at the end of a game, it's a forced turnover and it just demoralizes the other team. Me knowing and all my teammates knowing how big of a play it is, makes it contagious to the other guys. I'm not the only guy taking charges. Guys like Brandon Randolph, Alex Barcello, Dylan Smith, Brandon Williams, all the guys are getting in there and taking charges."


 
The fact that Randolph, Barcello, Smith and Williams – all guards – are also drawing charges isn't all that surprising to Miller. Usually, guards take the most charges as the play tends to skew their way more.
 
But a big man like Jeter? It's not often a center leads the team in charges.
 
"In the 15 years I've been a head coach, I can't think of a single player that has taken more charges than Chase," Miller said. "If you put him in the category of front court players, that's not even close. Usually big guys are slower to draw the charge than guards and wings. But Chase has a skill in him... I think it says a lot about his unselfishness because it's not a fun thing to do to take charges. Sometimes if you're a big guy, you're supposed to block shots.
 
"When you look at the turnovers we are forcing, a lot of those turnovers are happening because we're drawing multiple charges a game."
 
One advantage Jeter thinks he may have over other big men is how well he moves. He can use his mobility to get into the right spot to take a charge. His lateral quickness gets him in the right spot and then it's on Jeter to know the right time to take one.
 
"It's a sacrifice to give up your body," Jeter said. "If you're mobile and know how to do it and you make the right play, there's a time and a place to take a charge. So far I've had good judgment on when to do it."
 
And hopefully for the Wildcats, it continues.