UA coach Sean Miller said Tuesday that senior point guard Parker Jackson-Cartwright would miss the Wildcats' first exhibition game Wednesday against Eastern New Mexico because of an ankle sprain but likely return Sunday against Chico State.
Miller also said sophomore guard Dylan Smith will miss both exhibition games and the regular season opener on Nov. 10 because of a violation of team rules.
Miller said all other players except the injured Rawle Alkins would be able to play Wednesday and would not answer a question of if any players could be held out because of the ongoing investigation at UA.
Since the NCAA requires schools to sit out players for all intercollegiate competition that the school or the NCAA acknowledges have violated rules, Miller's statement could indicate UA or the independent investigation it commissioned has not found any of his healthy players to have violated rules at this point.
Miller said freshman Alex Barcello and junior Allonzo Trier would play point guard Wednesday, with Emmanuel Akot focused on the wing.
Miller said he wasn't sure how the starting lineup would look, but said Barcello has practiced well lately and that Trier has continued to learn the importance of ball movement and other facets of playing the point.ย
While Alkins' spot at small forward appears to be largely between Brandon Randolph and Akot, Miller said the two freshmen could actually play a lot together especially in the future because their games complement one another.
Actually, Miller indicated, Smith has been another candidate to start on the wing, though his suspension will keep him out until Nov. 12 against UMBC.
"Even though heโs not able to play here in these first two exhibition games heโs quietly put together a really good stretch of practices," Miller said. "Iโd say in the 22 days (of practice) he's now one of our top seven payers based on his performance every day.
"There's always an advantage for those who have played a season before or -- in his case, practiced -- all of last year. You think about who heโs practiced against, all the things he learned a year ago. Thatโs to his advantage early on and Dylan can shoot. Heโs got good size. He can do a lot of different things.
"Itโs very competitive at the wing position. We love Brandon Randolph, we love Emmanuel Akot. But Dylan ... sometimes you're overlooked as a transfer but performance means the most and between those three guys, it will be interesting to see how it plays out."
Sports Illustrated ranked Arizona No. 1, assuming all its players are eligible this season.
