Starting point guard Josiah Turner did not make the trip to Los Angeles for the Pac-12 Conference Tournament and has been suspended indefinitely from the team, according to a press release from Arizona Athletics.
Turner was supsended for a “violation of team rules.”
“Josiah Turner has been suspended indefinitely from our basketball team for a violation of team rules,” said head coach Sean Miller. “I am disappointed in Josiah for his actions. Unfortunately this suspension comes at a time of great excitement and opportunity for our team.
“However, the standards of our program will not be compromised under any circumstances,” Miller continued. “Hopefully, Josiah will learn a valuable lesson from this experience.”
This is the second time Turner has been officially suspended this season. The first “violation of team rules” kept the freshman from playing at Florida on Dec. 7, 2011.
Turner had started 16 of the last 17 games for Arizona. The play of sophomore point guard Jordin Mayes and freshman Nick Johnson will be crucial for the Wildcats as they try to use the automatic bid from winning the conference tournament as their ticket to the NCAA Tournament.
Arizona plays the winner of today’s USC–UCLA matchup on Thursday at 3:30 p.m.