The Colorado women’s basketball team is getting an unexpected day off Sunday.
On Wednesday, it was announced that Arizona State is cancelling its games this weekend at Utah on Friday and at CU on Sunday because the Sun Devils don’t have enough available healthy players.
Both games will be ruled as forfeits in favor of Utah and CU.
“We came to the conclusion after meeting with our doctors and medical staff we will not be making the trip to Utah and Colorado this weekend,” ASU head coach Natasha Adair said in a press release on ASU’s website. “We understand the games will be forfeited, but the reality is there was no decision to be made. With few healthy scholarship players time to heal is our only option. Our plan is to get our team healthy over the course of this week and be ready when we host Arizona Jan. 22.”
For the purpose of Pac-12 Tournament seeding, the games will be recorded as conference wins for Utah and CU and losses for ASU. However, the results will not be reflected in the overall records or coaching records.
CU remains at 13-3 overall, but now has a conference record of 4-1 heading into Friday’s matchup against No. 14 Arizona at the CU Events Center (7 p.m., Pac-12 Network).
ASU has not played in Boulder since Feb. 21, 2020. The Sun Devils were in Boulder for a game on Dec. 20, 2020, but the contest was canceled about an hour before tipoff due to COVID concerns within the Buffs’ program. The two teams did not have a scheduled game in Boulder last season.
CU is scheduled to visit the Sun Devils in Tempe, Ariz., on Feb. 17.
Coach Prime’s daughter joining Buffs
Shelomi Sanders, the daughter of new CU head football coach Deion Sanders, will be joining the Buffs’ women’s basketball team next week as a walk-on.
Sanders played this past semester at Jackson State and made the trip with the Tigers when they played at CU on Nov. 12. She did not play in the Buffs’ 77-53 win, however. A 5-foot-7 guard, Sanders played only nine minutes in two games for the Tigers.
Also joining CU this week is true freshman early enrollee Mikayla Johnson from Anchorage, Alaska. Johnson, a 6-1 guard, was a four-star recruit who was the Cook Inlet Conference player of the year last year.
Sanders and Johnson will both redshirt this season and could begin practicing next week if they are cleared medically.
“It’ll be lots of individual training,” CU head coach JR Payne said. “There’s not really time at this point in the season to get a lot of those type of reps (in team settings).
“It’s just getting acclimated early. It’s such a huge physical transition to the level and amount of training that we’re doing in the weight room. And, they’ll get enough basketball with the group that they will understand expectations and how we operate, how we do things.”
