Arizona Wildcats center Chase Jeter (4), right, did not suit up for the game against Utah due to back spasms at McKale Center on January 16, 2020.

 Mamta Popat / Arizona Daily Star

Whatever the case is with Chase Jeter’s back, he might have been headed out of Arizona’s starting lineup anyway, at least temporarily.

UA coach Sean Miller said Jeter reported back pain in the Wildcats’ first practice upon returning from Oregon this week, on Tuesday. But when asked if he was considering making the change before then, having indicated last weekend that Stone Gettings might be a possibility, Miller said:

β€œWe were thinking about it,” Miller said. β€œI think getting players more minutes is step one. I don't think you want to change the lineup unless you know that group of five doesn't give us the best chance to get off to a good start.

β€œTonight, Stone played more minutes (28). Christian Koloko played nine and Ira 12 and a half. Christian and Ira combined for eight rebounds, which is good.”

Against Oregon and Oregon State, Jeter had just one rebound in each game. Miller took him out permanently with 13 minutes left in regulation against Oregon and didn’t play him in overtime, then gave him 18 minutes on Sunday against Oregon State, where Jeter was 3 for 5 from the field but had only one rebound and missed half of his four free throws.

When asked if Jeter might have been suffering back issues that limited his performance last weekend, Miller said:

β€œI'm only going on what he said and it was kind of a moment in our practice once we returned, really at the very beginning, that he felt his back and he's had a history of that,” Miller said. β€œSo, you know, he's not practiced and he's more in the rehabilitation part of it.”

Miller said he didn’t β€œreally have a crystal ball” on when Jeter would return but considering the tight turnaround to a 12:30 p.m. game with Colorado, a return appears unlikely.

After leading UC Irvine to its first-ever NCAA Tournament win last season, Max Hazzard looked Thursday exactly like the kind of contributor the Wildcats might have hoped for when he arrived via the grad transfer market.

The difference is Arizona has been asking Hazzard to play an entirely different role. He led the Anteaters in scoring last season with an average of 12.5 points a game and fired up 6.5 3-point attempts per game, hitting them at a 38.8% rate.

Entering Thursday’s game, Hazzard averaged just 15.0 minutes a game off the bench and took only 3.0 3s per game, hitting them at a 33.3% rate.

But against Utah, Hazzard made the most of his 17 minutes, hitting 6 of 10 from 3-point range and 7 of 11 overall while scoring a season-high 24 points.

β€œI definitely felt like myself tonight,” Hazzard said. β€œI got some good looks. My teammates believe in me, my coaching staff believes in me as well. Obviously, I believe in myself so it felt good to kind of get back to what I'm accustomed to doing.”

No doubt Miller felt good about it, too.

β€œIt's great to see him shoot the basketball like we see him shoot it a lot in practice,” Miller said. β€œYou know, in fairness to Max, it takes a little time to get comfortable. But my hope is that there are more moments, like the like the segment he had there both in the first half and in the second half.”

Hazzard had eight points over three minutes in the first half, hitting two 3-pointers and a turnaround jumper along the baseline that gave UA a 22-11 lead with 11:41 to go in the first half.

Watch: Takeaways from Arizona’s 93-77 win over Utah

Late in the second half, when Miller was finding the Wildcats overall had β€œdropped intensity,” Hazzard scored another seven points in just over two minutes – on a 3-pointer and 4-for-4 free throw shooting.

His total of 24 points was by far a season-high though he had four 20-plus games last season at Irvine, including a career-high 32 points against Denver. He had 19 points and went 5 for 11 in the Anteaters’ first-round NCAA Tournament win over Kansas State.

β€œI've been doing this for a long time and it's my fifth year in college basketball,” Hazzard said. β€œI've had big-time nights, great nights shooting the ball, so this was just one of them.

β€œYou know, I plan to do it again.”

Fans booed the technical foul Ira Lee picked up for staring down Utah’s Mikael Jantunen after a second-half dunk, but Miller didn’t have a problem with the call.

In fact, he even called for Lee to get out of the game even before the officials’ whistle came down.

β€œThat's a point of emphasis (among officials), the taunting and it's in college football as well,” Miller said. β€œIt's a fine line. I don't think Ira meant anything about it but the point I was just trying to make to him is, `You do it, you get the dunk, OK. But if you get a technical, that negates the two points you just scored.

β€œIt's one thing if you're up big, but if that's a single possession game or a tight game, you just erased a really good play.

β€œBut Ira is emotional in a good way. He's a team guy and hopefully he'll learn from it.”

With Oregon having lost at Washington State, the Pac-12 once again is proving unpredictable – and suggesting the Wildcats can get significantly back in the league race if they can beat Colorado on Saturday.

Arizona does not have to make the trip to Utah or Colorado this season, so a sweep could give the Wildcats an edge in any potential tiebreakers down the road as well as send a message.

Still, Dylan Smith said he would treat it the same, even though it has the potential to be difficult.

β€œThis is just another game for us,” Smith said. β€œI mean I know that's how I'm looking at it. They’re a good team, well-coached. So it's going to be a battle, they're going to come in and play hard, try their best to get a get a road win and we got to try to deny them.”

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