Arizona could take the first loss of the season. Since no team had gone undefeated in more than three decades, it felt almost inevitable. Falling out of the top spot in the poll wasnt bad, either; the goal is to be No. 1 at the end of the season, not the middle. Losing Brandon Ashley, thats going to be a little tougher for the second-ranked Wildcats to take, a development that will force them to shuffle things around and potentially put a dent in their national championship aspirations. "Its a huge loss for us not to have Brandon for the rest of the season," Arizona centre Kaleb Tarczewski said. "But we still feel that even without him, we still have a great team." With Ashley, Arizona hummed along to the best start in program history, beating teams like Duke, Michigan, UCLA and San Diego State while winning its first 21 games. The Wildcats fortunes took a bad turn Saturday night in Berkeley, when they lost the game 60-58 on Justin Cobbs last-second shot and lost Ashley to an awkward landing while going up for a rebound in the first half. Ashley injured his right foot on the play and faces the possibility of surgery. Arizona (21-1, 8-1 Pac-12) now faces playing the rest of the season without one of its best, most versatile players. "No one expected us to do as well as we have this year; we kind of just let our play do the talking," Arizona point guard T.J. McConnell said. "People can write what they want and say that were not a national championship team, but were going to work hard every day and they cant take that away from us." A 6-foot-8 sophomore, Ashley was a difficult matchup for opposing teams on offence, an athletic player who could score in the post, driving to the basket and, after spending countless hours working on his shot during the summer, from the 3-point line. Ashley is Arizonas third-leading scorer at 11.5 points and in rebounding at 5.8 per game. He shot 47 per cent from the floor, including 36 per cent from the arc and often gave opposing teams fits with his ability to keep offensive rebounds alive with his long arms. Ashley also is one of the Wildcats most versatile defensive players, a long, mobile defender who has the reach to block shots inside and out, the agility to keep smaller players in front of him. "Are we going to miss Brandon Ashley? No doubt about it," Arizona coach Sean Miller said. "But we still can be an excellent team." The loss of Ashley will force some shuffling for the Wildcats. Defensively, Arizona should be OK without him. Freshman Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, whos expected to slide into Ashleys starting spot, is an active and willing defender. At 6-7, hes just an inch shorter and may be better at defending perimeter players than Ashley, playing that end of the floor more like an upperclassman than a first-year player. Replacing Ashleys offence may be a little tougher. Hollis-Jefferson isnt quite as polished as Ashley on offence and doesnt have the same range, hitting 1 of his 6 attempts from 3-point range this season while scoring most of his points on drives and putbacks. With Hollis-Jefferson in the starting lineup, 3-point specialist Gabe York moves into the sixth man role and the rest of the roster moves up a spot. Miller has kept a fairly tight rotation this season, so now players who hadnt seen many minutes outside of mop-up duty will be counted on more. Guard Jordin Mayes was a regular contributor the past two seasons, but has seen his minutes decrease this season. Matt Korcheck, who redshirted last season, is an active player with a solid build at 6-10, 230 pounds, though he has played in just 10 games this season. Freshman Elliot Pitts, whos appeared in eight games, will likely see more minutes as well. Miller said forward Zach Peters, a transfer from Kansas whos battled concussion issues, isnt ready for consistent minutes yet. Playing time among the players vying for minutes will likely be based on circumstance, depending on how well theyre playing, the opponent and what the Wildcats need during specific points in games. "If we did nothing different other than just give the players who have played, minus Brandon, more of an opportunity, thats part of our solution," Miller said. "With that in mind, we know foul trouble and fatigue can certainly weigh against you, but we dont have to do this for 30 games, just nine regular-season games and then were in the post-season." Arizonas stretch run without Ashley starts Thursday night at home against Oregon. Wholesale Jerseys . -- There were some emotional moments and some funny stories as Joakim Noah accepted the NBAs Defensive Player of the Year award on Monday, like this one. Jerseys From China . Sharpers lawyers had questioned the evidence authorities are using to justify keeping him in jail in California, where he faces separate charges that he drugged and raped two women in October after meeting them at a West Hollywood nightclub. http://www.cheapnfljerseysmall.us.com/ . Vancouver outshot San Jose 13-7 in the third period and the rally was sparked by Henrik Sedin, really not a moment too soon considering his struggles in this postseason. Cheap Jerseys .In the womens draw, Maria Sharapova overcame eight double-faults, including four as she served for the match, to defeat Ana Ivanovic 6-0, 6-4. She will take on Petra Kvitova in the final after the Czech player beat Samantha Stosur 6-3, 5-7, 6-2. Cheap Jerseys China . -- No. 3 Ohio State relied on a rare commodity to derail Purdues young shooters Tuesday. SANDY, Utah -- Optimism was in short supply in the Montreal locker-room after the Impact found a new way to lose on the road on Thursday night. This time, it was a second-half red card that did them in. Real Salt Lake forward Olmes Garcia scored two second-half goals -- both coming after Issey Nakajima-Farran was sent off in the 65th minute -- to lead Salt Lake to a 3-1 victory over the Impact and hand Montreal its fourth straight loss. The Impact (3-11-5) still have not won a MLS road match this season. "Im worried about the team," said Impact coach Frank Klopas. "Thats it because it just seems like whatever can go wrong has gone wrong for us. We just got to find a way to get out, keep working and try to get a result. Maybe well snap out of it." Montreal has not won a game away from home since defeating New England 4-2 on Sept. 8, 2013. Salt Lake (8-4-8) won for just the second time in its last nine MLS matches. Nakajima-Farran earned a red card for bringing his studs up on a challenge against Chris Schuler. The call left Montreal a man down after it had rallied from a 1-0 deficit late in the first half. "We had a decent hold on keeping the fort held down for a while and then the red card changed the game," Impact goalkeeper Evan Bush said. Montreal dug a hole for itself before the match was even a few minutes old when the Impact failed to clear out a deflected corner kick. Luke Mullholland made them pay for the mistake. When Schuler headed the ball upward to keep it alive, Mullholland slipped under it before it could touch the ground. From there, he blasted a shot inside the left post to give Salt Lake a 1-0 lead in the third minute. Hassoun Camara tied the game in the 31st minute.dddddddddddd Calum Mallace laid the ball off to Camara at the top of the box, and he blasted it home inside the left post. Montreal kept the game tied 1-1 after a great defensive play from Bush and Krzysztof Krol. Javier Morales attacked at the right post after receiving a cross from Chris Wingert but Bush denied him on the doorstep. Garcia, trying to collect the rebound and slip it past the line, was also stopped by Bush. Krol quickly cleared the ball out to prevent Salt Lake from getting a third shot. "We knew that Salt Lake was going to push their outside backs forward and in transition we were going to get opportunities," Bush said. "If we could just stay tight defensively, we thought we could get a couple on the break. Unfortunately, the red card killed our numbers going forward." Salt Lake wasted no time making the suddenly shorthanded Impact pay. RSL reclaimed a 2-1 lead in the 70th minute on a header from Garcia. Morales crossed the ball to Garcia at the top of the six. He out-jumped multiple Montreal players surrounding him to get his head under the ball and whip it inside the far post. Garcia picked up his second goal in the 93rd minute when Morales flicked the ball to him at the top of the box and he raced down the right side before firing it inside the far post again. Klopas says the red card altered the match just as Montreal was building momentum. "It changed everything," Klopas said. "I dont know what else could go wrong. It just seems everything goes wrong with us. We have a chance on the breakaway. Both players go down. Both players have studs up and we get the red card." The Impact host the Portland Timbers on Sunday. Cheap Jerseys nfl jerseys cheap authentic wholesale jerseys jerseys from china authentic Cheap Jerseys wholesale stitched jerseys ' ' '
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