The hits keep coming for the University of Utah’s struggling men’s basketball program.
An hour before Saturday’s Pac-12 game at Washington, first-year Runnin’ Utes coach Craig Smith announced that senior forward Dusan Mahorcic has been “suspended indefinitely” for “violation of teams rules” and would not play in the matinee matchup in Seattle.
No other information was provided in a one-sentence news release from the school.
Mahorcic, from Serbia, did not play in the second half of Utah’s 71-54 loss at Washington State on Thursday in Pullman, Washington.
Asked by the Deseret News why Mahorcic didn’t play in the final 20 minutes, after the Illinois State transfer started the game, Smith said it was not due to injury.
“Physically, he is good,” Smith said. “We just decided not to go with him in the second half.”
Mahorcic, who journeyed from Serbia to a Chicago-area high school to three different colleges in the United States to the University of Utah, played 10 minutes against the Cougars and scored four points.
He had a rebound, an assist, and a turnover.
He missed eight games earlier this season due to a dislocated knee cap, but returned more quickly than anticipated and had emerged as a solid contributor the past few games.
Mahorcic was averaging 5.5 points and 4.1 rebounds in 14.2 minutes per game.