Arizona basketball: Chase Jeter will play in Wildcats’ Spain exhibition tour

The Duke transfer has to sit out the 2017-18 season, but is permitted to play in Spain

Chase Jeter has to sit out the 2017-18 season due to NCAA transfer rules, but Arizona Wildcats fans will get their first look at the former Duke Blue Devil in red and blue this August.

Head coach Sean Miller said Tuesday that Jeter is allowed to play in Arizona’s Spain exhibition tour, and will play just as many minutes as anybody else.

The three-game tour runs from Aug. 11 to Aug. 19, with the first game taking place on Aug. 13 in Valencia. Miller said he doesn’t expect to play anyone more than 22 minutes in a game.

Walk-on Tyler Trillo (internship) is the only player who won’t be on the trip.

“We’re going to play everybody,” Miller said. “This isn’t about who’s going to start or the roles, we’re so far from that. That’s part of what’s great about going over there. You can play everybody and give everybody a chance to be in the game.”

While the 6-foot-10 Jeter cannot play this season, it will be a crucial year of development for him, as he is expected to have a major role with the Wildcats in 2018-19.

The redshirt sophomore will be UA’s most experienced big man next season, and maybe the team’s only returning player in the frontcourt, depending if Ira Lee is a one-and-done.

NCAA rules permit Jeter to practice with the Wildcats this season.

“It’s going to be exciting to watch our front line practice against each other every day,” Miller said in May. “We talk a lot about the highly competitive environment, and you can say it, but you need the players to represent it and I think Chase was a big, big coup for us. As big as anything we were able to do this spring."

Jeter averaged 2.1 points and 2.2 rebounds per game in two seasons at Duke. The Las Vegas native was a five-star recruit coming out of Bishop Gorman High School in 2015.

He was nagged by a back injury with the Blue Devils, but Miller said in May that he is “full-go” and did not have back surgery.

Parker Jackson-Cartwright said Jeter has a “crazy work ethic.”

“Coming from Duke, he’s come from an A-plus, prestigious program, so he knows what it means to win and win big in pressure-packed games,” he said. “I think what he’s brought to us already is what it takes to win.”

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Follow Ryan Kelapire on Twitter at @RKelapire

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