This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Cedric Martin practiced Friday, not long removed from a strong elbow to the back of the head from Arizona's Solomon Hill on Thursday night that left Martin sprawled on the floor and looking to be a lot worse off than he was.
Martin said Friday that he and Hill had been "going at it" throughout the game and that it was getting a little chippy but that he "didn't expect to get elbowed in the back of the head."
Arizona coach Sean Miller said today that he will not suspend Hill for the foul, which was ruled a second-degree flagrant and resulted in Hill's ejection, because he was retaliating for a similar hit by Martin.
"It's what you've seen, I think, a thousand times in college basketball — Solomon responded to what I would call an equally flagrant foul by Utah," Miller told the Arizona Daily Star. "It was on the same play. A lot of times (when) it happens, the second guy gets caught."
Martin said he wasn't entirely sure what happened on the play, but described it this way:
"We were going at it," he said, "little body blows, just real physical coming off of screens and what not. And like when people set picks on me, I always put my foot over and try to swing through and I guess that was his last straw and he just decided to take it to a whole different level."
When Martin first lifted himself off the ground he appeared to start after Hill, but quickly sat back down.
"I just remember being on the ground and getting up angry," he said, "and not composing my composure. Then reality hit and I kind of got lightheaded and had to sit back down."
— Bill Oram