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No serious injury to Horne's knee, UA says

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Turns out, the McKale ceiling was not totally collapsing on the Arizona basketball team after all.

An MRI taken Friday on freshman forward Jamelle Horne did not reveal a serious knee injury, allowing the Wildcats to escape another major issue after they went without Jerryd Bayless for four games with a sprained knee and just lost Nic Wise this week for at least four weeks with a torn meniscus.

Horne was cleared to return when he is comfortable, but UA interim head coach Kevin O'Neill said Friday he was unsure if Horne will play Sunday against ASU.

According to a UA release, after Horne's MRI results were reviewed Friday, "doctors were optimistic about the results and feel his return to competition will be based on his pain and comfort level."

O'Neill kept Horne out of Thursday's practice and arranged for the MRI because of what he said was considerable swelling in his left knee. Horne sat out Friday's practice with continued swelling but briefly rode an exercise bike and did some light shooting.

Horne is averaging 3.2 points and 2.3 rebounds while playing in 17 of the Wildcats' 22 games. He has started four games and typically plays the most against teams with a more athletic, smaller power forward.

Horne's minutes have declined in Pac-10 play, and he has played in only six of nine league games. But if healthy, he could be needed Sunday against ASU, which runs a smaller lineup most of the time.

When ASU beat UA 64-59 on Jan. 9 in Tempe, it was the first time the Wildcats had lost to their in-state rivals in six years and only the second time in the last 26 meetings.

That fact may have prompted ASU fans to storm the Wells Fargo Arena floor after the game, making it difficult — and embarrassing — for the Wildcats to make their way back to the locker room.

"They were screaming, and it was kind of like they won the national championship," wing Chase Budinger said. "Just walking out of the arena was a bad feeling."

One that senior Jawann McClellan hopes to erase today.

"Trust me, I remember everything about that game," McClellan said. "I've had that game in the back of my head since we lost. It was a tough one to lose, but now they have to come down here."

The second half of the Pac-10 Conference season begins for UA on Sunday, leading to natural speculation about whether the Wildcats might put together a 5-4 second half and finish with 20 wins entering the Pac-10 tournament. Or better. Or worse.

The Wildcats have five home games and four road games at all four Pacific Northwest schools remaining.

Yet O'Neill said he was not about to get caught up in any projections.

"I don't do that," O'Neill said. "I didn't do that in the nonconference or the first half of the Pac-10.

"I just take this whole thing one game at a time."

● ASU has lost five straight games, after winning its first four in the Pac-10, for one simple reason in O'Neill's mind. "They're playing good teams," he said. The five losses are to Stanford, Washington, WSU, UCLA and USC.

● Assistant coach Miles Simon returned to practice Thursday and missed it Friday while recruiting Friday. He has been in and out over the past month while his grandmother battled lung cancer. She died Jan. 29.