Gonzaga forward Brandon Clarke (15) leaps over Arizona forward Ryan Luther (10) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game at the Maui Invitational, Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2018, in Lahaina, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia)

 Marco Garcia

Forward Ryan Luther was battling a minor injury to his non-shooting hand when he was scoreless against Gonzaga and Auburn last week in Maui, UA coach Sean Miller said Tuesday.

However, Miller said Luther is practicing this week and is edging “closer to 100 percent” every day.

Luther hurt his hand against Iowa State last Monday, then went a combined 0-for-5 against Gonzaga and Auburn while averaging 5.5 rebounds in those two games.

“We were fortunate that he had the resolve and toughness to play in the next two games,” Miller said. “That certainly affected his aggressiveness and rightfully so. The fact that he played is a testament to his unselfishness and the type of kid he his.”

Miller’s response was to a question of how UA coaches can ensure Luther gets more involved. Luther took just two shots against UTEP on Nov. 14 so it wasn’t a surprise that he was minimally involved offensively in Maui.

So Miller later added that the “challenge for us as a coaching staff is to get the very best out of our players. …. (It’s to) make sure we get a balance of throwing him the ball more. He’s not somebody who’s going to call upon himself to do that. He’s going to have to do that with our help.”

Miller said he thought center Chase Jeter has regained his confidence after two seasons at Duke, where he averaged 2.1 points.

In three games at Maui, Jeter averaged 9.0 points and 7.3 rebounds while making 11 of 20 shots from the field.

“Duke’s program is the best of the best of the best. He didn’t have that opportunity to play a lot,” Miller said. “And it’s just like any player, regardless of program, it’s really not personal. Eventually you want to get an opportunity in games. When you don’t get that opportunity and you’ve been injured as well, which he was two years ago (with a back issue), you start to doubt yourself. You’re not as confident as you once were, so I think it allowed him to step back from competition and take a deep breath.

“Obviously playing (in practices last season) against Deandre (Ayton), Dusan (Ristic), Keanu (Pinder), those guys are talented and different from each other. So the practice enviroment and working extra after practice last year. He worked with Lorenzo (Romar) a lot after practice last year; he worked with Mark Phelps as well. Chase is an incredibly hard worker but I think being able to step away from that spotlight (helped) regarding his confidence and belief in himself. I was really excited to see how he played in Maui, one of our bright spots.”

During an interview last July, Jeter said he was “star struck” when he committed to Duke and didn’t realize out of high school that his best path was elsewhere.

Miller assembled what 247Sports is calling the composite No. 1 recruiting class so far in 2019 despite the federal investigation and trials still going on. I asked Miller about recruiting in that climate.

“You know, I learned a long time ago, great parents myself, my dad, 'keep your month shut and just work hard,'" Miller said. “Everybody talks about culture in sports. Culture is what you guys write about … identity is what you control. That’s what we do. Every day. Our players and how we handle ourselves. If the identity here is, 'shut up and get the job done,’ well, then, I’ll take that. That’s what we do.”

Miller spoke at length about each of his four signees, all but Zeke Nnaji, who committed after the November signing period ended. He said they were all high-character individuals and unique prospects (his comments can be found here).

The five recruits actually mean Arizona is one over the 13-player scholarship limit as of now, if you count incoming grad transfer Stone Gettings, who will practice this spring with the Wildcats but Miller said will definitely not play until next season.

Of course, there’s always a lot of spring roster movement with players who have eligibility remaining, and Miller is aiming to protect himself from that.

“Certainly, we are trying to run our program as best as we can with the info that we have,” Miller said. “Every spring brings change and we want to be prepared for that change, and really that’s what we’ll spend the next four or five months doing.”

Miller said it is possible he might even look to add a sixth player in the spring depending on how that roster situation plays out but said he’s moving ahead with recruiting 2020 players and “really getting ahead at an earlier period of time than we were able to last year.”

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Contact sports reporter Bruce Pascoe at 573-4146 or bpascoe@tucson.com. On Twitter @brucepascoe