Arizonaโ€™s Cedric Henderson Jr. dives in a just a second late to tie up Western Oregonโ€™s Daisone Hughes in the first half of Tuesdayโ€™s exhibition win over Western Oregon in McKale Center.

 Kelly Presnell, Arizona Daily Star

With Courtney Ramey off to the NCAA penalty box for the first three games of the regular season, fellow Arizona grad transfer Cedric Henderson says he has no expectation of replacing him in the starting lineup.

Except, most likely, he will.

Not only Henderson has been working out heavily with the first team in preseason practices, but he also has four years of college experience and the versatility to pop in just about anywhere in the lineup.

Also, consider what happened after Henderson joined the starters Monday when he replaced the foul-plagued Pelle Larsson just 73 seconds into Arizonaโ€™s 91-61 exhibition win over Western Oregon: The Wildcats turned a 3-0 lead into a 17-6 advantage, with Henderson adding a field goal and an assist during that stretch.

UA coach Tommy Lloyd has been consistently bullish on Henderson, who may have transferred in from low-profile Campbell but scored 1,196 points over three seasons in the Camelsโ€™ low-tempo offense.

Hendersonโ€™s performance on Monday, collecting 10 points on 5-for-9 shooting with two rebounds and an assist, didnโ€™t change Lloydโ€™s viewpoint.

โ€œIโ€™ve said it all along: Cedric is a really good player,โ€ Lloyd said after Mondayโ€™s game. โ€œIโ€™m extremely comfortable with him. I was excited to actually see him in a game setting today. I think when these games start to open up and thereโ€™s a little more flow to him, I think heโ€™s a really unique player.โ€

Campbell played with the 14th slowest tempo in Division I last season, nearly the polar opposite of Arizona, but did so with a focus on Princeton-style cutting that Henderson was known to excel at. That skill could translate well to Lloydโ€™s screen-heavy scheme.

In other words, Henderson knows how to move, whatever the pace.

โ€œWe saw some of that (against Western Oregon) โ€” some of the decisions, the floaters he was able to kind of hit on and off the ball screens, getting out in transition with some of those finishes,โ€ Lloyd said. โ€œIโ€™d love to see a little more offensive rebounding and overall rebounding tenacity from him but weโ€™ll get that out of him.โ€

Henderson is also 22 years old, a veteran of one junior-college season and three at Campbell, and the son of a former NBA player. On Monday, Henderson showed a comfort level on the floor he said afterward can help younger players.

โ€œIt gives you somebody else that kind of knows whatโ€™s going on, instead of coming in with a young guy,โ€ Henderson said. โ€œGoing with me is a more comfortable decision sometimes. I come in and Iโ€™m gonna give it 100% at all times. Iโ€™m gonna dive on the floor, talk defensively, and then run the court.

โ€œIt gives him somebody else out there that (Lloyd) can trust, (whether) theyโ€™re out there with the second unit or the first unit.โ€

But whether he will be on the first or second team in UAโ€™s season opener Monday against Nicholls, Henderson said he wasnโ€™t anticipating anything.

โ€œI just expect to play the same amount Iโ€™ve always played,โ€ Henderson said. โ€œItโ€™s really on Tommy on what he wants to do and how he wants to go about it.โ€

Not surprisingly, when asked about his plans for the three games without Ramey, Lloyd simply said โ€œwe plan on playing our asses off regardless of whoโ€™s playing.โ€

Lloyd also repeated his reluctance to put any pressure on freshman guard Kylan Boswell, who could be asked to play play a few extra minutes without Ramey around to back up Kerr Kriisa at point guard. Just 17 years old after skipping his senior season at AZ Compass Prep, Boswell was only recently cleared to play fully after breaking a foot last spring.

โ€œHeโ€™s going to be a hell of a basketball player,โ€ Lloyd said. โ€œCould be an all-time great here. But just letโ€™s give him a little bit of time and let it happen organically.โ€

In addition, Lloyd took a no-worries approach to Kriisa, who could be asked to shoulder more without Ramey but is coming off two rough public preseason shooting efforts: He was 1 for 6 from 3-point range in the Wildcatsโ€™ Red Blue Game, and missed all three shots he took Monday, including two 3-pointers.

โ€œKerrโ€™s been great,โ€ Lloyd said. โ€œKerr and I obviously have a great understanding of what he means to this program, and I think heโ€™s kind of taken a little bit of a wait-and-see attitude, and let others get themselves comfortable.

โ€œI think we all know Kerr is two consecutive 3s from being rolling.โ€

Meanwhile, Lloyd also took a non-combative approach to the NCAA suspension that crimped his rotation plans in the first place: Ramey was suspended three games for playing in the Portsmouth Invitational predraft camp because it wasnโ€™t certified by the NCAA โ€” but never needed to be previously because its participants had always exhausted their college eligibility.

When the NCAA granted 2020-21 โ€œCOVID-yearโ€ participants an extra year of eligibility, that created the possibility that a senior such as Ramey might play at Portsmouth and then return to school. At the time, Ramey was also something of a free agent, having left Texas and being in the NBA Draft pool while also considering playing another year of college.

โ€œHe was involved in a situation that had nothing to do with us and ... the NCAA has rules,โ€ Lloyd said. โ€œThey feel like it violated one of their rules that warranted a three-game suspension. So there it is. Iโ€™m not the guy thatโ€™s up here ... Iโ€™ll let you guys complain about the NCAA. I donโ€™t complain. I just look forward.

โ€œItโ€™s gonna be a great opportunity for our team and Iโ€™m gonna make a positive out of it.โ€

Arizona routed Western Oregon 91-61 in an exhibition game Tuesday night at McKale Center. Six Wildcats scored in double figures.

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Contact sports reporter Bruce Pascoe at bpascoe@tucson.com. On Twitter: @brucepascoe