University of Utah junior center Branden Carlson has been placed in the athletic department’s health-and-safety protocol and is out for Saturday’s game at Missouri, multiple sources tell The Salt Lake Tribune.
Carlson, Utah’s leading scorer (13.7 PPG) and rebounder (6.0 RPG), is also expected to miss Tuesday’s game vs. Fresno State. As of now, Utah is targeting Dec. 30 at Oregon State for Carlson’s return. The Utes play at Oregon on Jan. 1.
Per sources, the rest of Craig Smith’s roster — with the exception of the injured Dusan Mahorcic (right leg) — made the trip to Columbia and will be available Saturday afternoon at Mizzou Arena (2:30 p.m., SEC Network).
Carlson’s absence comes as the college basketball landscape is being increasingly affected by COVID-19 and the Omicron variant. As of Saturday morning at 8 a.m., no fewer than 20 Division I programs were either in a COVID pause or had canceled games. Among those canceled games were high-profile, neutral-court matchups on Saturday afternoon between UCLA and North Carolina and Ohio State and Kentucky in Las Vegas, and Seton Hall and Iona at Madison Square Garden. The Tar Heels and Wildcats will now instead play each other Saturday afternoon in Vegas (3:30 p.m., CBS).
Every member of the Utah program — players, coaches, and support staff — is fully vaccinated. Smith said earlier this week that booster shots are being arranged within the next week for any member of the program that wants to take advantage.
Minus Mahorcic and now Carlson, Smith is without his two most-effective big men. Beyond them, 6-foot-10 fourth-year sophomore Lahat Thioune is coming off 16 points and seven rebounds in just 13 minutes of a blowout victory over Manhattan on Dec. 11.
Without Thioune on the floor, Utah would automatically be going with small lineups, potentially with 6-foot-9 forward Riley Battin playing out of position on both ends of the floor.
The Tribune will update this story.
from The Salt Lake Tribune https://ift.tt/3e6G3nO
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