Still unsure if or how much Bennedict Mathurin would play Thursday against Stanford, Arizona coach Sean Miller said he might scoot Azuolas Tubelis over to small forward βin a pinchβ for the second straight game.
But considering how things are also going sideways on Stanfordβs perimeter, Tubelis might as well line up at shooting guard, where he could match up with somebody like 225-pound Spencer Jones or 6-9 Jaiden Delaire at any given moment.
Itβll be Big Boy Basketball, out of necessity, on Thursday when the Wildcats host Stanford at McKale Center in a much-different-looking rematch of the Cardinalβs 78-75 win on Dec. 19.
Stanford is making the trip without its three perimeter starters: Daejon Davis, Bryce Wills and Ziaire Williams. Arizona is without guard Jemarl Baker (broken wrist) and has a major question mark in Mathurin.
Miller said Wednesday that Mathurin had suffered only a Grade 1 ankle sprain on Monday against ASU but that he wasnβt sure what role the freshman might be able to play Thursday, if any, since the high-flying freshman from Montreal has not been through an ankle sprain before.
βI believe that every day that goes by, heβs going to make significant progress,β Miller said. βItβs not as significant as it could have been but I donβt have a yes or no answer on whether heβll play and if he plays, what role heβll have.β
Miller said Mathurin was attending all team events this week but not fully practicing. Miller said he might start Dalen Terry or somebody else instead of Mathurin but didnβt rule out keeping Mathurin as a starter if he recovers quickly.
βRight now, it makes no sense to put him out there (in practice) and make him go leading up to the game,β Miller said. βBut things can transpire differently from one day to the next with an injury. I just donβt have the answers to those things.β
Without Mathurin, who missed the second half of UAβs 80-67 win over ASU on Monday, the Wildcats have just three players they normally count on for three perimeter positions: Terry plus guards James Akinjo and Terrell Brown, though Miller also played freshman forward Tibet Gorener briefly on Monday.
Miller said during his weekly news conference Wednesday that he could play Gorener or walk-on Matt Weyand if needed. He moved Tubelis briefly to small forward on Monday and could do it again on Thursday.
βBut all of that isnβt something thatβs going to make us be the best we can be,β Miller said. βItβs just a holding pattern. That would be the best that we can do in (Thursdayβs) game based on everything that weβre going through right now.β
Miller also confirmed that heβs been told freshman guard Kerr Kriisa will be eligible to play on Feb. 4 at Utah. Thatβs one game sooner than the initial expectation of Feb. 6 at Colorado. The NCAA has ruled Kriisa must sit out for 70% of UAβs games, and the move of UAβs second game with ASU from March 6 to Monday appears to have also moved up Kriisaβs timeline.
Miller said Kriisa also has been cleared for full contact this week after suffering a broken nose and concussion on Jan. 13, meaning he can probably take advantage of the chance to play after just two more games.
While Miller has been juggling all of those issues, Stanford coach Jerod Haase might have a team that is among the nationβs leaders in adversity β especially among those who havenβt even had a COVID-19 pause of their own.
The Cardinal signed up to spend Thanksgiving week in Lahaina at the Maui Invitational, but that event was moved to North Carolina. While en route to the tournament, the Cardinal learned they also couldnβt go home because of a strict health order in Santa Clara County.
Stanford stayed in North Carolina for another week to play North Carolina A&T and practice at the University of North Carolina, then eventually headed west and moved into a new βhomeβ over the hill from campus in coastal Santa Cruz, where they have been permitted to play games in the Golden State Warriorsβ tent-like G League arena.
Along the way, Stanford also had four games canceled because of other teamsβ COVID-19 issues. The program didnβt pause, as much as Santa Clara County might have wanted it to.
The Cardinal beat Arizona in its first Santa Cruz game on Dec. 19 and has since won all four additional games played near the beach despite suffering a string of losses.
Davis appeared to hurt his knee against the Wildcats and has not played since, while guard Wills went out with an apparent ankle injury on Jan. 4 at Oregon State.
Then, the Cardinal went without Williams last Saturday against UCLA for what the school called βpersonal reasons.β Stanford wonβt have the highly touted freshman back this week, either.
Haase told The Bootleg, a Stanford-focused 247Sports.com site, that Davis, Wills and Williams will all miss the trip to Arizona to play UA and ASU this week.
βAll of them will be unavailable for this trip,β Haase told The Bootleg. βI donβt have a timeline still. β¦ Hopefully at some point, after things get settled here, theyβll be back again. No timeline, but nobody will be with us traveling.β
While that news didnβt break until Wednesday afternoon, it was probably no surprise to Miller or anyone who has been following the Cardinal, which managed to beat UCLA on Saturday only after standout Oscar da Silva made a buzzer-beating layup off an inbounds pass in overtime.
βI donβt think weβve faced a team this season thatβs had more adversity, more injuries, illness, different things, that make a season more difficult,β Miller said of Stanford. βI really credit Jerod and his staff. Theyβve done an exceptional job, as have his players. They beat UCLA without, in essence three starters, which is quite a feat. It says a lot about Stanfordβs quality of depth.
βBut itβs what we all have to do. Weβre in that situation right now.β