Arizona’s Trier again ineligible after positive test for banned substance
Feb 22, 2018, 4:25 PM | Updated: 10:31 pm
Arizona's Allonzo Trier (35) drives the ball against California's Nick Hamilton, left, in the second half of an NCAA college basketball game Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018, in Berkeley, Calif. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)
(AP Photo/Ben Margot)
Arizona Wildcats guard Allonzo Trier was ruled ineligible to play Thursday after testing positive for trace amounts of the substance that kept him out of 19 games to begin the 2016-17 season.
The school announced the news and said the results of a late January 2018 drug test shows that an “amount detected was minuscule by scientific standards and appears to be a remnant of a substance, which the NCAA agreed, Allonzo had unknowingly ingested in 2016.”
The Wildcats are appealing the decision and are “hopeful” Trier can regain his eligibility.
Head coach Sean Miller said after the team’s win Thursday he is hoping for a quick resolution.
Sean Miller's full quote from his postgame radio interview regarding the Allonzo Trier situation: “It’s devastating. We’ve been at this for a long, long time … game 28. My hope is that it can be resolved as soon as tomorrow.”
— Matt Moreno (@MattGOAZCATS) February 23, 2018
Trier missed the 19 games last season and was not eligible to play until he tested negative for the substance.
He returned to action 13 months before his latest positive test.
“I have never knowingly taken a banned substance,” Trier said last January. “After finding out that I was given a banned substance by a well-intentioned, but misguided person not associated with the University after an injury, I presented this information to the NCAA.”
Trier’s mother gave a statement to ESPN.
Marcie Trier's statement to ESPN on her son, Allonzo's, suspension by the NCAA: pic.twitter.com/IyNUdZdq93
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanESPN) February 23, 2018
Trier, a junior, is averaging 19.6 points, 3.2 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game this season. He has yet to play a full season after suffering a hand injury to begin his freshman season and missing time last year due to the drug suspension.
Arizona will be without him as they face the Oregon State Beavers on Thursday night. The Wildcats have three regular season games remaining after their game in Corvallis.
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