TEMPE โ While losing its third straight game Thursday, Arizona gave up more than 50 percent shooting for the eighth time this season and drove its coach nuts with lost rebounding opportunities, too.
โI donโt think we played tough,โ UA coach Sean Miller said.
But none of the things that surfaced during Arizonaโs 95-88 overtime loss to ASU could threaten the UAโs season as much as this: Freshman guard Brandon Williams sat on the bench in sweats, nursing an injury to the same knee that has already cost him nearly a year of basketball.
Williams began experiencing knee pain after the Wildcatsโ trip to Los Angeles last weekend.
Williams was out most of calendar 2017 because of a congenital issue known as osteochondritis dissecans, in which bone beneath the cartilage of a joint dies due to lack of blood flow.
Williams was also limited on Dec. 15 against Baylor after bruising the right knee in practice, and Miller said Thursday he wasnโt sure if Williamsโ latest pain was related to the congenital joint issue.
โI donโt know. Itโs that knee,โ Miller said. โI think time will tell.โ
Asked how serious the injury is this time, Miller said: โHe experienced some soreness coming out of L.A., and he hasnโt been able to do anything since we played UCLA, so I really donโt have an answer for that.โ
ESPN reported during its telecast Thursday that Williams was experiencing โsignificant pain and swellingโ to the right knee, but his stepfather Chris Wright told the Star on Friday that Williams has not suffered any swelling since the UCLA game.
Wright said Williams did experience swelling during the 2016 travel-ball circuit before undergoing surgery to correct the issue.
He said the symptoms are โtotally differentโ this time.
Wright declined to comment further, since Arizona keeps current injury details private, but said things should be fine based on what is currently known.
Williamsโ UA teammates may not even know what he is going through.
โHe doesnโt really talk about it, but they sat him out tonight,โ forward Ira Lee said Thursday. โThat was probably in the best interest of our team. Hopefully we get him back and get ready for Washington next week.โ
As a star at Crespi High School in Los Angeles, Williams experienced increasing issues with the knee as a junior heading into the 2016-17 high school season and had surgery in January 2017 to correct it.
He sat out the rest of that season and the summer before returning โ albeit with minutes limitations โ as a senior.
Williams wound up going through more than 10 months of rehab; his recruiting ranking slipped.
โI wasnโt sure if Iโd ever be the same. Iโd be lying if I said that never crossed my mind. I was ranked No. 14 in the nation before I got hurt,โ Williams told the Los Angeles Daily News in February 2018. โDidnโt get to play summer ball like I planned, either. I started dropping in the rankings, saw other recruits get attention, and rehab wasnโt going well. I started to feel forgotten.โ
But Williams finished his senior season strongly, averaging 24.7 points a game, and has been one of the Wildcatsโ best players so far this season.
He leads the Wildcats in assists (78) while also being their third-leading scorer, averaging 12 points per game.
Rim shots
โข Center Chase Jeter managed to play 31 minutes after missing two games with back soreness, but Miller said he was about 40 percent to 50 percent. Jeter told ESPN he was at only 80 percent and was having trouble fully extending for rebounds. Jeter still managed eight rebounds Thursday.
โข Forward Ryan Luther hit 5 of 8 3-pointers while scoring a season-high 19 points and collecting nine rebounds, but Miller spoke of shortcomings in his production.
โHe did a good job on offense,โ Miller said. โHe obviously really struggled on defense and rebounding. I donโt know if his offense equaled his defensive lapses and his own inability to do what heโs supposed to do on defense.โ
- Arizonaโs game against league-leading Washington at McKale Center on Thursday will air on ESPN2. The Huskies are 8-0 in the Pac-12.
