It was the worst kind of news at the worst possible time for Arizona, but it was the reality. When the team returned from its trip to Los Angles a couple weeks ago starting guard Brandon Williams started to feel pain in the knee he had an operation on in high school that cost him his entire junior season.

That wasn't what Sean Miller or the Wildcats wanted to hear with the team going through a rough stretch having lost its last three games and four of its last five. In addition to that Williams has been playing well as of late with a team-high 19 points against UCLA in the final game of that road swing through California.

Williams missed last week's game against ASU because of the pain in his knee and while the injury isn't new it is concerning enough that the Wildcats will hold him out this week and possibly longer even with an important game coming up Thursday night against the Pac-12 leader Washington.

"There's been a couple times since he's been there, as far back as early in the summer, when we're aware that his knee may swell or he has some discomfort and we shut him down," Miller said this week. "For the most part he made it through 20 games and about 70 practices without anything pain related hitting him. For some reason at the end of the LA trip, in which he probably played his best overall game at Arizona against UCLA, he experienced some pain in that same knee.

"As we've shut him down that pain has had a hard time going away. Now it's his best interest just to make sure that we know everything that's going on, that we shut him down to kind of allow that pain to diminish and the hope is every day and every week it diminishes and at some point this season he potentially could return. I don't know when that date is. Idon't konw any more than that right there."

Williams is averaging 12 points per game this season for UA, which is third-best on the team, in addition to being the leading assist man with 3.7 assists per game. However, Arizona is in a tough position in the Pac-12 Conference standings right now and the hope for an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament is starting to fade quite a bit.

While the Wildcats need Williams to help try and secure a potential spot in The Big Dance it might need him even more next season when much loftier expectations will be in play. It has left Miller and the UA medical staff in a a tough position. There is no sense in trying to rush Williams back with pain so severe that he's missing practice time, so for now all Miller and the Wildcats can do is continue to hope Williams' knee starts to feel better at some point this year.

"I've got my fingers crossed for him that he'll be OK, because he's obviously a terrific player playing the best basketball of his young career at Arizona and as someone who has already paid the price with that knee," Miller said. "He's gotten through a hard part before he got here. So, we have all the experts in the world looking and helping both him and his family. ... The number one priority is that he's OK and his future is OK before we would implement him back in in any way to our team."

Miller said the new issue is related to the "path" Williams has had to take because of the original knee problem and surgery he had in high school, so there is not necessarily a clear timetable on when it could heal up enough for the freshman to return to the floor. The unpredictability of it all is forcing the Wildcats to roll with the punches a bit as it heads into an important game Thursday night.

"A couple weeks from now he could be back and playing his best," Miller said. "I look at the last game he played at UCLA he was playing well. I think he experienced some discomfort then and almost like the next day it changed. Hopefully we can get him through this."

Right now the process is more in the hands of the team doctors and medical staff than anyone else, so for Miller and Williams' teammates it's about providing emotional support as the freshman goes through this time away from the floor.

"Obviously it's tough as an older guy like myself to see a guy so talented like B Will go through an injury like that," senior forward Ryan Luther said. "We're always going to support him and hopefully he gets back here soon and he can help us towards the end of the season. ... I don't know all the details, I'm not a trainer or a doctor, but we're just here for him with support."

The rest of Williams' teammates will face a tough task Thursday night as Arizona takes on Washington at McKale Center with tip off set for 7 p.m. MST.