COUGARS

FROM TUCSON -- We have an update on the status of Faisal Aden, so read on.

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Ken Bone wasn't ready to rule Aden out for any amount of time. Not even close. The coach said Aden sprained the MCL in his left knee, and that he doubts that he'll play on Saturday. Mostly, Bone reiterated repeatedly that there simply isn't enough known about the injury yet to make any declarations about how much time Aden might miss.

Bone said he's heard of players spraining their knee on a Thursday and then playing on Saturday. He also mentioned that "you hate to see anybody get injured, especially when it’s a game ending injury that potentially is more than one game."

But also: "I’m not going to talk as if he’s done. I don’t know enough about it. He sprained his knee. It’s possible he’s playing Saturtday. I’ve heard of guys spraining their knees before and they bounce back. I doubt he will, but I’m not going to talk about, oh, this could be it for Faisal Aden. I have no idea."

Bone's not so sure the game would have been any closer with Aden.

"The way Arizona played tonight, I’m not sure it would have made any difference, but it detinitely didn’t help us because he’s really played good basketball as of late, scored the ball extremely well as of late and we needed more points to be in this game," Bone said.

The diagnosis -- as of now -- seems less severe than originally thought. If you didn't see the play, there's a clear shot of it here. It's not for the faint of heart. Bone didn't know when we spoke to him whether Aden was checking into a hospital tonight for further evaluation.

We'll be back in a bit with some more postgame stuff.

Christian Caple can be reached at christianc@spokesman.com. Twitter: @ChristianCaple

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