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. Β
Arizonaβs 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 Sundayβs 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 Sundayβs 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 β although, UA coach Sean Miller said, he wonβt travel to Hawaii this week. In Smithβs announcement note on Twitter, he wrote that βmy run in basketball has been greatβ and that βmy father once told me that just because someone is a good basketball player doesnβt make them a good person.β
Before Sundayβs game, Smith was hanging around Arizonaβs 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 Arizonaβs intro video, where Smith replaced Miller at the very end to say βThis is β¦ Arizona.β
Smith is only 19 years old, but seems to be able to handle himself like someone much older than that.
Stillβ¦
βHeβs a phenomenal kid,β Miller said. βBut make no mistake, heβs hurting.β
Miller went on.
βThis is something you donβt see very often,β Miller said. βIn the 25 years Iβve been involved in college basketball, no players Iβve been around have gone through such hardship and injuries that heβs had.
Kadeem Allen, Arizonaβs lone senior, said βitβs not fairβ that Smith has to go through what he has been.
βHe never got to play college basketball,β Allen said. βItβs not fair when a guy worked that hard to get that.βΒ
As featured on
Chico State hits 6 of 12 three-pointers.
Chance Comanche will likely play against Michigan State, Sean Miller says.
