Arizona basketball: On injuries, homebodies and crowd no show

Ristic recovering

While Arizona guard Parker Jackson-Cartwright hopped the team flight to Washington, the Wildcats quietly kept another key player home.

Getting on the flight wasn’t so much the issue for Dusan Ristic as it was just to get in a car and go home.

The Wildcats’ backup center from Serbia had a bacterial infection in his throat that required hospitalization Monday and Tuesday nights before he was released, UA trainer Justin Kokoskie said. Ristic has been taking antibiotics that have now started to take effect, Kokoskie said.

“He’s slowly getting better and he’s trying to regain the energy and weight he lost,” Kokoskie said. “It takes time for the antibiotics to kick in, and when you have an infection in your throat, with your airway, you’ve got to be extra cautious.”

Kokoskie said Ristic lost 10 pounds while fighting the infection but should be recovered well enough to play next week against USC and UCLA. 

More caution

The Wildcats are also taking it slow with Jackson-Cartwright, who felt well enough to make the trip to Washington and participate in warm-ups Friday but sat out his third straight game while recovering from a concussion suffered Jan. 28 against Oregon. 

Kokoskie said Jackson-Cartwright has a chance to be cleared in time to play Sunday at Washington State but that UA didn’t know Friday how likely that might be.

“He’s been making a lot of progress,” Kokoskie said. “Getting cleared from a concussion is a combination of a lot of factors, so we’re just progressing slowly and making sure his brain is completely healed.” 

Homebodies 

While Jackson-Cartwright sat on the UA’s bench Friday, Ristic and walk-on Trey Mason (who underwent meniscus surgery on Thursday) watched on ESPN from home.

“I talked to them both today and they’re both doing well,” Kokoskie said. “For Trey it’s a matter of recovering his range of motion and strength.”

Mason, a sophomore guard, has been a regular on UA scout teams in practice. 

The big number 

8 — UA’s available scholarship players Friday, with walk-on Jacob Hazzard having been elevated to No. 9 on the depth chart. 

Why bother? 

Despite a history of riveting games before sellout crowds in Seattle, the Huskies and Wildcats tipped off Friday’s game to a crowd that probably filled less than two-thirds of Hec Edmundson Pavilion’s 10,000-seat capacity.

Why? Here were the Top 5 Reasons for Not Showing Up:

1. Traffic in Seattle before a 6 p.m. Friday tip-off on a holiday weekend is miserable.

2. Ticket prices started at $50. 

3. A huge high school matchup was being played between Rainier Beach and Garfield over at Seattle Pacific.

4. Everyone spent all their disposable income on the Seahawks.

5. The Huskies just are not very good. 

Black apparently not in fashion 

Thanks to the less-than-capacity crowd, and fans’ apparent disregard for Washington’s marketing efforts, the Huskies’ attempt at a “blackout” fizzled Friday.

While the UW students dutifully wore the “Blackout” T-shirts being provided on a table outside the student section, the rest of the fans wore a rainbow of colors to the game: green, gray, silver, purple, magenta and, of course, red.

That was the color that the roughly 1,000 Arizona Wildcats fans showed up in, of course.

The Huskies did get one victory out of it, however: They successfully appealed to both the Pac-12 and Arizona to receive permission to wear black uniforms. The Wildcats complied by wearing their “home” whites. 

U-Dub style workout 

Before he worked Friday’s ESPN telecast along with Dave Pasch, analyst Bill Walton did a little workout, local style. A picture of him with a wide grin and wearing a UW rowing uniform was posted on Twitter by Pac-12 Networks play-by-play announcer J.B. Long.

“More Bill Walton rowing amazingness,” Long posted. “Can’t get enough of this.”

Insta-Instagram 

The Huskies aren’t slow to social media. Along the north concourse, fans could pose in a “Selfie Station,” standing inside a cardboard cutout of an Instagram post with the “uwathletics” handle.

Fans were asked to tag the photos with @UWAthletics and #UDubSelfies. 

Local flavor 

Our pick for concession stand of the night?

Had to be Ivar’s Slider Station.

Your choice of sliders — salmon, halibut or hamburger – for $8.