Arizona Wildcats guard Brandon Williams to return against Stanford after knee injury

Arizona guard Brandon Williams will return Sunday against Stanford after missing six games with an injury to his right knee.

Williams is scheduled to play 10-15 minutes off the bench while testing the knee, which has kept him out since he returned from Arizona's trip to Los Angeles last month with pain in his knee. 

Williams and UA treated the knee carefully, since it appeared to be related to a congenital issue that prompted Williams to undergo surgery in January 2017. Williams stayed off the court for 10 months, but returned to play most of his senior season in high school.

As part of his rehabilitation, Williams has warmed up for games since Feb. 14 at Utah.

The Wildcats were 1-5 in the absence of Williams, who had been their leading scorer in conference games.

UA coach Sean Miller said after the Wildcats played Cal on Thursday that there was a "slim chance" Williams could play against the Cardinal.

“I would look at him as being not available on Sunday,” Miller said. “I guess there's a slim chance depending on how the next couple of days go. But you know, I think once we get beyond Sunday, (he’ll become) potentially more probable as we go on. But he could get a setback in the next couple of days or over the next five days and not play a single minute the rest of the year.

“So it's really about being really smart with what we're doing. And the only way he would play is if he's pain free."

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Miller also said Williams, like center Chase Jeter did in returning from a back injury at ASU, will need to progress gradually back. The move does mean, however, that Williams will be closer to top form when the Wildcats make a potentially difficult swing through Oregon this week.

“You don't just wave a magic wand and all of a sudden and he's going to score 18 points and look like he did against UCLA" when Williams had 18 points, Miller said. "I mean, there's going to be a progression. So he knows that we know that but we will be better with him than without him.”

Stanford standout forward KZ Okpala also will play after missing the Cardinal's game at ASU on Wednesday with what the school is calling an upper-body injury

Acting UA assistant coach Austin Carroll will miss tonight’s game for family reasons after his father, John, was hospitalized.

Now an assistant coach at Rhode Island, John Carroll was Kaleb Tarczewski’s travel-ball coach and mentor.