Sean and heard at Utah: On Gueye's calf strain, not-so-mighty atmosphere and Peacock

SALT LAKE CITY — When freshman forward Sidi Gueye elevated toward the basket during pregame warmups Saturday, it was official: Arizona men's basketball’s first Big 12-mandated “player availability report” was pretty much a nothingburger.

Arizona had listed Gueye as “questionable” to play against Utah during its first mandatory Big 12 night-before injury update and reported no injury issues with any player during its Saturday pregame report.

Gueye did not play against Utah and coach Tommy Lloyd told the Star afterward that he suffered a calf strain in practice earlier this week, though he could have played if needed. 

"It was a break-glass-in-case-of-emergency," Lloyd said. "I don't want to say he's not going to play and then there's an emergency and we play him. I don't even know how that would work."

Under the Big 12's new injury reporting policy, coaches and other team personnel are required to comply "in good faith," and not allowed to conceal a player's status for competitive reasons. Teams are required to post what it calls "player availability reports" the evening before a conference game and then again 90 minutes before tipoff.

In the night-before reports, teams are required to classify players as “available,” “game-time decision,” or “out." Questionable means a player has roughly a 50% chance of playing, while doubtful is 25% and probable is 75%.

For game day updates, teams list players only as “available,” “out,” or “game-time decision,” for when a final determination won’t be made until a player goes through pregame warmups.

Gueye was limited by a knee injury in the preseason but played three minutes in the Wildcats' nonconference finale on Monday against South Dakota State.

No fan of reports

In the preseason, Lloyd was outspoken against the implementation of the injury reports, which will be required in Big 12 games and also during NCAA Tournament play, saying not issuing reports is what protects players.

“They’re not protecting the players. What they’re doing is they’re protecting their financial interest, an investment in their sports,” Lloyd said. “This is solely because betting sponsorship is becoming a huge part of everything, and everyone wants a piece of it. They’re trying to get more friendly, for the books, the casinos.

“That’s it. There’s no other way to put it. I have no problem doing it, but I think we all have to just be honest with why we’re doing it.”

Utes out

Meanwhile, Utah listed Babacar Faye and Jacob Patrick as out during its reports on Friday and Saturday. Faye is out for the season with a knee injury while Patrick has missed the Utes' past three games with an unspecified injury.

Faye averaged 15.2 points and 7.8 rebounds at Western Kentucky and was expected to play a significant role in the Utes' rotation.

"Really unfortunate with Baba getting hurt ... the worst part is because he’s the person that he is,” Utah coach Alex Jensen said after Faye was hurt in September, according to the Deseret News. "We just have to pivot."

Home away from home

Once again, the combination of a mediocre home team and UA’s vast alumni base made for a noticeable Wildcat presence in the crowd Saturday at the Huntsman Center.

About 20% of the fans inside Utah’s arenas were wearing UA gear and rooting for the Wildcats. Audible "U of A" chants filed the arena with 14 minutes left Saturday, when UA held a 70-46 lead, among other times.

UA fans also loudly cheered the Wildcats off the court after they dispersed from a huddle around the Peacock postgame interview, with the vast majority of Utah fans having left the building by then.

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MUSSed up

Meanwhile, the combination of a mediocre home team and winter break meant Utah's  "MUSS" — Mighty Utah Student Section" — was quite a bit less than mighty.

Usually an intimidating feature of the Huntsman Center, the MUSS section allows students to look directly down on and heckle players sitting on the opposing team's bench.

On Saturday, only about 50 students were sitting there. But they did have a few cardboard cutouts on hand, including ones of Steve Carell and a teddy bear.

Pizza bribe

While Utah students weren’t scheduled to start spring classes until Monday, those who showed up Saturday were rewarded with free Little Caesars pizza. For some games, organizers said, Jersey Mike’s subs are passed out.

Wasatch warming

The Wildcats hardly needed to worry about their bus slipping its away up the hill from downtown Salt Lake City to the Huntsman Center, nor deal with any sort of ice or snow anywhere.

Salt Lake City hit highs in the mid-50s Saturday, approaching the record of 58 … set in 2025.

Big 12 alphabet soup

While Wildcat fans might have heard the familiar voice of former UA standout and Tucson resident Matt Muehlebach working Saturday’s broadcast, they had to tune in via a streaming service to do so.

The Big 12 has added Peacock to its many media partners this season. Through an agreement with parent NBA, Peacock was carrying Saturday’s game and is scheduled for a total of 20 Big 12 games this season.

The deal means the Big 12 now has games on FOX, ESPN, NBC, CBS, TNT, CBS Sports Network and Peacock.

Happenings

There was still a show of some sort in addition to the game. Utah had its well-regarded student band on hand, while DJ D Smoove also had a presence.

At halftime, a team of trampoline dunkers did their thing, too.

The big number

5: Arizona players scoring 13 or more points Saturday.

Quotable 

"We don't ever want to be a program that's just relying on one guy. We want our good players to love playing with other good players." — Lloyd, on UA's balance