Arizona basketball: Parker Jackson-Cartwright out 8 weeks with high-ankle sprain

Arizona Wildcats point guard Parker Jackson-Cartwright will be out for approximately eight weeks with a high-ankle sprain, head coach Sean Miller said Monday.

Jackson-Cartwright suffered the injury last Wednesday against Texas Southern and Miller previously said the junior would be out for a “considerable amount of time”, which now apparently means eight weeks.

That timetable means Jackson-Cartwright is likely to return in late January or early February, aka in the midst of Pac-12 play.

“It’s like putting the ATM card in and if there’s (no money) in there, here we go.” Miller said of the Wildcats’ lack of options to replace Jackson-Cartwright. “We’re going to make the best of it, figure it out, and that’s what we’re doing — we’re figuring it out and we’re making the best of it.”

Kadeem Allen started at point guard in Jackson-Cartwright’s place Saturday in the team’s 69-62 loss to Gonzaga, and the Wildcats’ offense had one of its least efficient games of the season.

Arizona shot just 38.6 percent as a team, and had seven assists to 12 turnovers.

Before the injury, Jackson-Cartwright was leading the team in assists per game (5.3), and posted 37 assists to 11 turnovers in seven games.

The rest of the Wildcats have 80 turnovers to 61 assists.

Arizona also had no comment on Allonzo Trier’s status. Trier was cleared to travel with the Wildcats to L.A. for Saturday’s contest versus Gonzaga, but Miller said that is not necessarily a good sign for his playing status.

“The only good sign is when he walks out there and plays,” Miller said of Trier.

Trier has missed all eight games for unspecified reasons and a timetable for his return is unclear, meaning the Wildcats will be limited to just seven scholarship players for the time being.

“You have a lot of players that they came to Arizona to have big, big roles and believe me, every one of them does right now,” Miller said.

Arizona (6-2) returns to action Tuesday when it hosts UC Irvine. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. and the game will be televised on the Pac-12 Network.

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