Arizona Wildcats basketball: On Smith's injury, bad Zoo, classic Phyllis
Seen and heard at McKale Center during Arizona's 78-70 exhibition win over Chico State. Â
Arizonaâs first exhibition game against College of Idaho last week was a house of horrors. The Wildcats went without a suspended Allonzo Trier (unknown reasons) and Chance Comanche (academics), and then lost forward Ray Smith when he went down with a knee injury.
There was a little more positivity to come out of Sundayâs second exhibition against Chico State, namely that the Wildcats could bring back Comanche into the mix when they travel to Hawaii for the season opener against Michigan State on Friday night.
But the sadness of the Ray Smith saga still loomed over Sundayâs affair.
Last week, Smith announced on Twitter that, after tearing an ACL for the third time in three years, he would be retiring from basketball. As a result of his injuries, he never played a regular-season game for the Wildcats, instead only participating in two Red-Blue scrimmages and part of one exhibition game.
He also missed his senior season at Las Vegas High School.
Smith will still be around the team â although, UA coach Sean Miller said, he wonât travel to Hawaii this week. In Smithâs announcement note on Twitter, he wrote that âmy run in basketball has been greatâ and that âmy father once told me that just because someone is a good basketball player doesnât make them a good person.â
Before Sundayâs game, Smith was hanging around Arizonaâs team managers as the players were in the locker room, he took some underhanded half-court shots and even took a few photos with some nearby fans. During the shoot-around, he repeatedly passed UA forward Lauri Markkanen the ball and chatted and smiled the whole time.
The best moment came during Arizonaâs intro video, where Smith replaced Miller at the very end to say âThis is âĻ Arizona.â
Smith is only 19 years old, but seems to be able to handle himself like someone much older than that.
StillâĻ
âHeâs a phenomenal kid,â Miller said. âBut make no mistake, heâs hurting.â
Miller went on.
âThis is something you donât see very often,â Miller said. âIn the 25 years Iâve been involved in college basketball, no players Iâve been around have gone through such hardship and injuries that heâs had.
Kadeem Allen, Arizonaâs lone senior, said âitâs not fairâ that Smith has to go through what he has been.
âHe never got to play college basketball,â Allen said. âItâs not fair when a guy worked that hard to get that.âÂ
As featured on
Chico State hits 6 of 12 three-pointers.
Chance Comanche will likely play against Michigan State, Sean Miller says.
