It's official: Aiken off team
Although he hasnโt played a game for Arizona since Dec. 5, forward Kim Aiken was listed consistently on UA rosters until he was removed from the online roster this week.
UA coach Tommy Lloyd confirmed after Thursday's Utah-Arizona game that Aiken is "no longer with us, and that's about all I've got."
The UA has not given a reason for Aikenโs departure, except to say itโs for personal reasons. He remains listed in the UAโs student directory.
Although he still has a year of eligibility remaining, Aiken appears to have finished a short UA career by playing in only seven games, averaging 5.0 points and 3.4 rebounds. He played a key defensive role off the bench early this season, guarding big wings or forwards. Since Aikenโs departure, that role been taken by sophomore guard Pelle Larsson.
Sleep comes first
Normally when playing Utah on a Thursday night before facing Colorado, the Wildcats bolt for Boulder right away on a midnight flight over the Rockies. Since players are normally too wired to go to sleep quickly after a game anyway, the strategy has been to fly while they wind down and still get everyone in bed around midnight or 1 a.m.
Thursdayโs 9 p.m. tipoff changed that thinking.
UA basketball operations director TJ Benson said he and coach Tommy Lloyd figured the late tip could easily translate into a bedtime of 3 or 4 a.m. if anything was delayed in the game (it was delayed until about 9:15) or the weather (it was forecast to snow lightly overnight Thursday).
โHe said, โIโd rather have them sleep in and practice in Colorado (on Friday) night,โโ Benson said. โYou donโt want to get in at 3 or 4 in the morning.โ
So the Wildcats instead returned to their Salt Lake City hotel after Thursdayโs game and were scheduled to leave in the early afternoon Friday for Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport in Broomfield, Colorado, which is only about 14 miles from Boulder. They were then scheduled to practice at CU on late Friday afternoon.
Curtains
With an 11-16 record heading into Thursday, Utah hasnโt found much of a need for its upper-section seats at the Huntsman Center this season.
So except for Nov. 27 game with BYU that drew about 12,000 fans, Utah has wrapped black curtains around its upper seats. That effectively lowers the Huntsman Center capacity from 15,000 to about 8,500.
No masks required
For the first time since the Wildcats played at Tennessee on Dec. 22, they were doing so in a building where there was no mask-wearing mandate. The Pac-12 required some staffers to wear masks courtside, however.
Greenโs good timing
Green arrived just before tipoff and sat immediately behind the end of the Wildcatsโ bench, seen chatting with walk-on forward Jordan Mains, one of two Wildcats remaining from when Green spent the 2019-20 season with them. (Christian Koloko is the other).
Boo birds
Utahโs student section appeared pretty tame Thursday, despite receiving free โMUSSโ T-shirts. But not all the Huntsman Center fans took it easy on UA guard Pelle Larsson, who transferred from Utah to Arizona last spring.
Larsson was booed before taking his first 3-pointer, which missed before teammate Dalen Terry dunked it in, and then was cheered after wildly missing his second try. Larsson went scoreless in the first half with two rebounds.
Double salute
Utah turned Thursdayโs game into a doubleheader, with its womenโs team playing Oregon beforehand. Both menโs and womenโs teams wore silver and black uniforms as part of military appreciation night and a salute to the USS Salt Lake City.
Interview videos of USS Salt Lake City veterans were shown on the Huntsman video board during timeouts. In the main concourse, Utah also stationed mannequins wearing the military Utah uniforms for football and basketball underneath a placard that told the USS Salt Lake Cityโs story.
The ship was a World War II-era heavy cruiser โmany thought had been lost to history,โ it said, noting that the Utah menโs and womenโs teams โwill shine a bright light on its forgotten remarkable story.โ
Brrr โฆ
Since tickets were actually sold separately for both the menโs and womenโs games, the initial plan was to ask those who bought both to clear the Huntsman Center and wait outside until it had been swept and prepared.
Since the womenโs game was held at 5:30, there was over 90 minutes before the menโs game would start. But it was also 28 degrees outside.
So Utah officials let the 100 or so fans who were attending both games stick around so they could stay warm.
Quotable
Teammates โalways make fun of me because I have my phone all the time taking pictures and videos to send back home because Iโve never been on the West Coast before. These are just memories for me. Itโs just been amazing places, great scenery.โ
โ UA guard Justin Kier, before UA took another scenic journey through Utah and Colorado this weekend.
TV lineup set
UAโs game at Colorado on Saturday will be carried on ESPN2, while ESPN will broadcast UAโs game at USC on Tuesday. Then itโs back to ESPN2 for Arizona-Stanford on March 3, while UAโs regular-season finale against California on March 5 will be televised by Pac-12 Networks.
