Seen & heard: UA football's Brennan introduced, plus appearances from KD, Miles Simon, Fifita, McMillan, more

Thanks to USC’s continued injury issues, the son of NBA star LeBron James made his second start of the season in front of a near-capacity McKale Center crowd and national ESPN audience -- while getting booed by the Zona Zoo student fans every time he touched the ball.

USC was without its two leading scorers, guards Boogie Ellis and Isaiah Collier, for the second straight game. Ellis has been out with a hamstring injury, while Collier broke his hand a week ago against Washington State and is expected out for at least a month.

Nearly two weeks earlier, Arizona faced Colorado when the Buffaloes were without two starters, forwards Tristan da Silva and Cody Williams, and the Wildcats won 97-50.

Ellis is averaging 17.2 points while shooting 47.7% overall and 48.6% from 3-point territory. Collier, one of the top three rated players in the high school class of 2023, is averaging 13.8 points while shooting 54.0% overall.

USC returned starting center Joshua Morgan, who missed the Trojans' two losses last week with a respiratory illness but the Trojans played him on the bench while starting 7-footer Vince Iwuchukwu.

Brennan introduced

New UA football coach Brent Brennan was introduced to a standing ovation during the second media timeout, grinning as he looked to carry some of that energy over to his program.

“I‘m expecting the same kind of juice at Arizona Stadium this fall,” Brennan told the crowd while briefly taking the microphone. “We’re so excited about being here. So appreciative of president (Robert) Robbins and Mr. (Dave) Heeke to bring us back to the U of A. We can’t wait to get to work … and build a consistent program that we can be proud of here every day in Tucson.”

Lloyd welcomes Brennan

UA coach Tommy Lloyd lost a pickleball partner this week but he might find another one, with the UA football program changing hands from Jedd Fisch to Brennan.

Speaking Tuesday at his weekly news conference, Lloyd said he looked forward to meeting Brennan.

“I've heard nothing but great things… heard he's a great guy, and will be a great fit here,” Lloyd said. “That being said, I'm happy for Jedd. I think Jedd made the decision he felt like he needed to make for him and his family and he has the freedom to do that. He and I were good friends and we shared a lot of time together on the pickleball court and our wives became good friends.

“So we're sad to see him go but we're happy for them. And we're looking forward to the next chapter. We love living in Tucson so anything University of Arizona, we're gonna fully support.”

While it isn’t known if Brennan even plays pickleball, Lloyd had a scouting report fully filled out on Fisch.

“Slow feet, good forehand,” Lloyd said. “But, you know, you make him move a little bit and…”

KD, Simon in Tucson on off day; Fifita, T-Mac, others in house, too

Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durant took in Wednesday’s game from a first-row baseline seat near the UA bench, sitting near several UA football standouts.

Quarterback Noah Fifita, wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan, running back Jonah Coleman and linebacker Jacob Manu were nearby.

Suns assistant coach Miles Simon, who helped lead UA to its 1997 national championship, was also on hand.

The Suns beat Sacramento at home on Tuesday and don’t play again until Friday in New Orleans against the Pelicans.

Ooopsie

While there were a lot of current and former UA football players on hand, including former UA running back standout Ka'Deem Carey, Arizona messed one of the intros up.

It introduced former Cienega High School and UA receiver Jamarye Joiner as “Bijan Robinson,” the former Salpointe High School running back who now plays for the Atlantic Falcons.

Joiner, who transferred to play for Jackson State after last season, appeared somewhat confused by the announcement.

Lights out cancer

Arizona tried to turn McKale Center into dark mode to promote cancer awareness via a “Lights Out for Cancer” promotion.

UA asked fans to wear black so as to accentuate the pink cancer awareness pins that were given out- more than half complied -- and it draped “Dark Mode” T-shirts on student section seats. The athletic department also put pink and white cardboard cards that said “I Stand For” with a blank area for fans to fill in as they wished.

Big time coverage

Not only did ESPN cover Wednesday’s game with the crew of play-by-play announcer Dave Pasch and analyst Jay Bilas, but Westwood One also showed up with Jason Bennetti and Casey Jacobson to broadcast the game on national radio.

Jacobson, the former Stanford and Suns player who now lives in Phoenix, worked with Bennetti on Fox’s Dec. 23 telecast of the UA-Florida Atlantic game.