Arizona basketball: Xavier Johnson will not be suspended for Colorado’s game vs. Wildcats

He will get to face his rival after all

On Thursday, Xavier Johnson was ejected from the Colorado Buffaloes’ one-point loss to the Arizona State Sun Devils for what appeared to be fighting.

This would have meant that he would have been suspended for Saturday’s contest against the Arizona Wildcats, but on Friday, the Pac-12 clarified Johnson’s ejection, and he will indeed play against Arizona.

Pac-12 confirms Colorado's Xavier Johnson will not be suspended for Saturday game with #arizonawildcats, bc he was not ejected for fighting.

— Bruce Pascoe (@BrucePascoe) January 6, 2017

CU's Johnson was assessed Flagrant 2 technical for extreme contact and thus ejected but was not found to have participated in a fight.

— Bruce Pascoe (@BrucePascoe) January 6, 2017

Jethro Tshisumpa, who was the ASU player involved in the scrum, has also been cleared to play for the Sun Devils on Saturday against Utah.

Johnson and Arizona have a tumultuous history, as detailed in the link above. After missing all of last season due to a torn Achilles, Johnson is the Buffs’ second-leading scorer this year, averaging 13.9 points per contest. He is also one of their top rebounders, pulling down 5.6 boards per game.

As many have pointed out, it’s better for Arizona to face a Colorado team at full strength than one that is missing their fifth-year senior. It should be a bigger challenge for the Wildcats this way.

The two teams are scheduled to tip-off at 7:30 PM MT on Saturday night. The game will be broadcast on Pac-12 Networks.

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