Arizona State forfeits 2 games due to lack of healthy players
Arizona State's injury bug is now claiming entire games.
The Sun Devils women's basketball program was forced to forfeit its next two games, scheduled against Utah on Friday and Colorado on Sunday, due to not having enough healthy players, the team announced Wednesday.
Sun Devils first-year head coach Natasha Adair said she hopes the time off allows the team to heal:
"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. 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."
The team's next game will come against in-state rival Arizona on Jan. 22, assuming the team is healthy by then.
Arizona State didn't say which players were out, but Isadora Sousa, Maggie Besselink, Imogen Greenslade, Morasha Wiggins and Jaylah Robinson were all reportedly dealing with injuries as of last week. Pac-12 guidelines require seven available players, so there have likely been even more injuries since then.
Arizona State athletic director Ray Anderson apologized for the situation:
"We feel terribly for our team that wants to compete, but due to the medical circumstances we are not able to. Admittedly this is a very unusual situation, one that requires us keeping the health of both injured and healthy players as the main focus."
The situation is not unprecedented, even when you narrow the time range to this week. UConn was forced to postpone a game this week after having six players, including Paige Bueckers, Azzi Fudd and Aaliyah Edwards, sidelined.
