Arizona basketball: Josh Green's status still up in the air
Arizona Wildcats coach Sean Miller says "it remains to be seen" if freshman wing Josh Green can play this week after sitting out the Los Angeles road trip.
Green did not travel with the team last week, when the Wildcats lost at USC and UCLA. The school said he was suffering from a lower-back injury, specifically a sprain of the sacroiliac joint.
"That was in his own best interest to recover and recuperate," Miller said on his weekly radio show on WildcatsRadio 1290. "Putting him on a flight, changing hotels and making him a part of our travel party, for as much as it would be to his benefit to continue to be around our team, health is first and foremost."
Miller said he thought Green was able to "make a lot of strides" with his health, adding that the freshman worked out with the Wildcats on Monday.
"I think it remains to be seen in terms of where we go from here with him," Miller said. "The No. 1 priority for us is to make sure our guys are healthy. Josh obviously has a bright future, and we don’t want to do anything to take away from that bright future. I think we'll know more here in the next couple of days, how much he will be with us and where we go from there."
Before last week, Green had started every game this season and is third on the team in scoring, averaging 11.9 points per game. He is also averaging 4.6 rebounds and has a team-high 42 steals in 27 games. Green is shooting 42.0 percent from the field and 32.0 percent from 3-point range (24 of 75).
Arizona used a big lineup for both games of the L.A. road trip, with Ira Lee joining the starting five at power forward and Stone Gettings sliding down to small forward.
"Anytime you have key player -- and Josh is that for us -- who is not a part of things at all, it not only affects your team from the perspective of he's not there, but everybody who continues to play has somewhat of a different role," Miller said. "The player who had to adjust the most for us this past weekend was Stone Gettings."
