Sean Miller says he won’t know for sure about Ray Smith’s apparent injury for a couple of days, but he spoke after UA's College of Idaho exhibition as if his rotation was permanently damaged.
“We don't have any depth,” he said. “We’re gonna play our walk-ons, and they have to get ready. We’re gonna have to play three guards a lot. We're gonna have to teach Lauri (Markkanen) some small forward and we’re gonna have to take it one day at a time and be better at doing the things we can control than ever before.
“When we play at McKale, we’re gonna have to rely on our crowd and our efficiency, playing together with great effort and take it one day at a time and see where that leads us.”
Same theme came up later in the postgame press conference when Miller was asked about what he saw in chemistry and player development.
“The thing about our younger players that I really like is they’re very coachable, eager to learn and they have a lot to work with,” Miller said. “Watching them out there tonight, I’m sure you saw flashes in each of their cases where they have a bright future.
“It’s now up to us to get that out of them sooner rather than later. Every one of these guys has come to Arizona for a big opportunity. And the guys that we have on our team, all of them have a big opportunity now.”
The Wildcats had just seven scholarship players available by the end of their exhibition game Tuesday, and it’s not clear how long either Chance Comanche or Allonzo Trier will be out.
Miller said in UA’s statement that Comanche is out indefinitely with academic issues, while a UA spokesman said before the news conference Tuesday that UA could not comment on Trier (during Miller’s news conference Monday and during Trier’s Pac-12 media day no-show, Miller declined to comment when asked about his status).
So as of now, UA has three post players (Markkanen, Dusan Ristic and Keanu Pinder), one wing (Rawle Alkins) and three combo guards (Kobi Simmons, Parker Jackson-Cartwright and Kadeem Allen, though Simmons is only playing off the ball at this point).
While Smith’s final fall was out of view of some McKale Center fans, with him curling up in pain under the west side of the basket, he earlier fell and twice retreated briefly to the locker room.
Miller said Smith initially worried about his knee but was checked out initially and cleared to return. Miller said he wasn't sure if whatever happened the first time affected the final injury.
“We don’t really know exactly what happened,” Miller said. “Certainly it didn't look good. We’ll know more in the next couple of days but this this was the first time he’s been out there since both Red-Blue games and it was exciting .to see him out there for the first time. With that, to me, that trumps everything else tonight.”
Later, Miller said:
“It’s hard for his family, hard for him,” Miller said. “When you’re around him every day you realize this isn’t something that he just waited his turn and showed up today. You’re talking about hours all through the summer, two, three, four of lifting weights, of rehabbing, of working so that this time would come and the guy played 10 minutes.
“You know, it’s heartbreaking. It really is. I don’t have any words to really couch it, to make it better than it is. It’s awful."
While the game itself might have appeared the third or fourth most important thing of the evening, there were some stats worth noting.
Among them: The Wildcats had six players in double figures, and a double-double from Keanu Pinder, but allowed the College of Idaho to collect 16 offensive rebounds and shot just 1 of 13 from three-point range.
“We didn't shoot the ball well tonight but other team was playing a very aggressive man to man, they were trapping all pick and rolls, they extended,” Miller said. “So what they gave up was some things close to the basket and we took advantage of that.
“There were times where, no question, young players were learning the difference between high school and college, where you have to stop, pull up, shoot. You saw Rawle run over a couple of people. Lauri did it in the first half. Good teams rotate and take the charge but they’re not as used to that as freshmen. But I think they’ll get better.”
But having six guys in double figures – oddly, not including Markkanen – might not be a stat the Wildcats can read much into.
At least Miller wasn’t, when asked if that would be characteristic of this team.
“It’s really not up to me on that,” he said. “Every team creates their own identity. If you have a lot of players do different things and they share the ball, you’ll have a balanced scoring team.
“Moving forward, I believe we have that. We have a number of guys who can do different things. But inevitably I think the cream will rise to the top and we’ll have a few that stand out more than others. Tonight it was hard to judge that.”
One player stat line really caught Miller’s eye: The one next to Kadeem Allen’s name that had 11 points, eight assists, seven steals, two blocks and no turnovers.
Plus defense.
“I marvel at how far he’s come,” Miller said. “I’m telling you right now I’ve not seen a better defensive player than him. Nick (Johnson), T.J. (McConnell), Rondae (Hollis-Jefferson), Kyle Fogg as a senior, Aaron Gordon in his one year and at Xavier we had a couple of monster guys who were older and really tough.
“Watching him tonight this early in the year, I just really marvel at his effort and his leadership as a senior. We’re obviously going to count on him to do everything. Thinking about where he would have been a few years back when we redshirted him, it’s really fun watching his development.”
Simmons may have played in Chicago’s United Center for the McDonalds All-American Game last spring, but the five-figure crowds for the Red-Blue Game and Tuesday’s exhibition at McKale Center have already impressed him.
“The atmosphere is great,” Simmons said. “I haven’t played in someplace like McKale Center, and my teammates, when I got here, they always told me about it.”
Our full coverage from Tuesday's game has been attached. A PDF version of the box score has been attached, and it can also be viewed here.
