Jayden Quaintance out for ASU against Colorado

Arizona State freshman big man Jayden Quaintance did not make the trip to face the Colorado Buffaloes on Tuesday night as he recovers from an ankle sprain, head coach Bobby Hurley told Arizona Sports’ Bickley & Marotta.

Quaintance tweaked his ankle before ASU basketball’s 76-61 loss Saturday to No. 3 Iowa State. His mobility suffered, and Quaintance fouled out after scoring nine points to go with two rebounds in just 17 minutes.

“Unfortunately, the day before Iowa State, he took a bad step in practice and rolled his ankle,” Hurley said. “He was, I think, probably 60% or 70% in that game, couldn’t move, didn’t have the explosiveness. He desperately wanted to play and his family wanted him to play and we allowed him to give it a go and it didn’t really work out.”

ASU freshman big man Jayden Quaintance tweaked an ankle before the Iowa State loss and won't play Tuesday at Colorado, head coach Bobby Hurley told Bickley & Marotta. pic.twitter.com/Wei4wGZqPS

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Hurley added Quaintance has received a second look from doctors and expects the ankle injury isn’t long-term. The head coach didn’t rule out Quaintance possibly being available Saturday as ASU hosts the rival Arizona Wildcats.

“I think this is more of a short-term thing,” Hurley said. “He’s so young and he’ll recover quickly. It was just terrible timing because we were just getting (freshman Joson Sanon) back and now we lose another key piece tonight.”

The Sun Devils will likely lean more heavily on backup center Shawn Phillips Jr., who posted five points and four blocks in 19 minutes off the bench against ISU on Saturday.

Hurley is wary that foul trouble to Phillips could put his team in a bad spot. Arizona State effectively went just seven players deep even with Quaintance limited against the Cyclones.

Quaintance is averaging 10.3 points, 8.5 rebounds and 3.0 blocks per game this season but had recently found an offensive groove. He hit 15 or more points in three straight games before he sprained his ankle.

ASU expects to reevaluate Quaintance on Wednesday after getting back from Boulder, where a fellow former Pac-12 squad has lost eight in a row to begin its tenure in the Big 12.

“I think there is a chance he could play on Saturday,” Hurley said.

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