Walton’s world (of pain)

Few basketball players know back pain more than Bill Walton, whose professional career was plagued by it.

So the ESPN analyst, who was doing his second of three straight UA games Thursday, said the absence of UA center Chase Jeter was key during their 90-69 loss at UCLA last Saturday.

“Health is everything,” Walton said.

Walton said Jeter’s absence particularly plagued the Wildcats because Jeter is their best player on both ends of the court.

“Look what happens when you take LeBron James off the Lakers. Or Magic off the Lakers in the ’80s,” Walton said before Thursday’s game.

Naturally, though, Walton found a bright side to look at.

“The thing that makes me super proud is how the Wildcat fans have stayed loyal and stayed positive,” he said.

Red flag?

The fact that Brandon Williams suffered a right knee sprain against UCLA in itself might not be a big deal for the Arizona Wildcats.

But the history with Williams’ right knee calls for caution.

As a junior in high school, Williams suffered increasingly from a congenital issue around his right knee known as Osteochondritis dissecans, in which bone underneath the cartilage of a joint dies due to lack of blood flow. He had surgery on the area in January 2017 and missed nearly an entire year on the court before finishing last season strongly as a senior at Crespi High School.

Williams also bruised the same knee in practice against Justin Coleman on Dec. 14, according to UA coach Sean Miller, and shot just 1 for 9 from the field the next day in the Wildcats’ 58-49 loss to Baylor.

“He gave it his best but he wasn’t 100 percent,” Miller said after the Baylor game.

Gamesmanship

Although there was speculation earlier Thursday that Williams might be out, the freshman went through UA’s early warmups, about 80 minutes before Thursday’s game.

Watching the Wildcats closely in those warmups was ASU coach Bobby Hurley, who wore sneakers, sweat clothes and headphones while sitting on the bench near the UA basket.

But when the Wildcats came back for final warmups a half-hour before the game, Williams sat on the bench in sweatpants. At that point, UA announced he would not play.

Devilish

Free devil horns ... pic.twitter.com/KWhL80njxc

— Bruce Pascoe (@BrucePascoe) February 1, 2019

Scattered pairs of illuminated red lights gave the Wells Fargo Arena stands a slightly different look Thursday.

A closer look revealed they were on top of fans’ heads, in the form of devil horns.

Valley Metro, the Phoenix-area transit system, gave out about 5,000 of the horns before Thursday’s game, with students, other fans and even the concessionaire workers wearing them.

Valley Metro also plugged itself by giving out clear bags with Sparky bearing the following message: “Don’t fumble with traffic.”

Message sent

While there weren’t many signs around Wells Fargo on Thursday, except for one that said “Go Away U of PAY,” nearly all 3,000 or ASU students showed up with gold ASU T-shirts sporting various slogans, including least five different versions of the words “No Pitty for the Kitty.”

Other shirt slogans included: “All Hail Bobby Hurley,” “ASU Innovation Dynasty,” “House of Heat,” “The Bank,” and two others that used the Arizona block “A” in the middle of the following words: “cheAters” and “bAsic.”

Icy surprise

COLLEGE, BABY. 🏀 Go @SunDevilHoops. #AllAZ pic.twitter.com/xJE0xznnJ6

— Arizona Coyotes (@ArizonaCoyotes) February 1, 2019

The Arizona Coyotes played along with ASU’s Curtain of Distraction, sending defenseman Jason Demers and former player Paul Bissonnette, now an announcer and team ambassador.

They could use him

Deandre Ayton and Mikal Bridges at Wells Fargo Arena to check out Arizona-ASU. pic.twitter.com/qLodgy7pEF

— The Wildcaster (@TheWildcaster) February 1, 2019

Also appearing, but only in the stands, was former Arizona star Deandre Ayton, the Bahamian big man who is employed by the nearby NBA team.

As the No. 1 pick in last June’s draft, Ayton is averaging 16.4 points and 10.6 rebounds for the Phoenix Suns so far. He and another former UA standout, Lauri Markkanen, were both named this week to the World team in the NBA Rising Stars challenge.

The big number

22

Rebounds by ASU’s Zylan Cheatham on Thursday, with 11 in each half. Cheatham had 20 a week earlier at UCLA.

Quotable

“It’s not just by accident that Arizona is the best program, big picture, long term, in the Conference of Champions.” — Walton, when crediting UA’s training and conditioning staff for the Wildcats’ relative lack of injuries this season.