Star Arizona guard Allonzo Trier has been declared ineligible by the NCAA after testing positive for a banned substance.
The university is appealing the ruling.
Trier, who missed the first 19 games of last season after testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance, is averaging 19.6 points for an Arizona team that is considered a Final Four contender. He was on the bench, in street clothes, for the Wildcats' 75-65 overtime victory at Oregon State on Thursday night.
The university said in a statement that Trier participated in an NCAA student-athlete drug screening in late January. The results were confirmed Thursday and "revealed the reappearance of a trace amount of a banned substance."
"The amount detected was miniscule by scientific standards and appears to be a remnant of a substance, which the NCAA agreed, Allonzo had unknowingly ingested in 2016," the school said.
A year ago, Trier tested positive for the PED in the preseason and wasn't cleared until Jan. 20, 2017 -- when tests showed that all traces of the substance had left his system. Trier said that he never "knowingly" took the banned substance.
In a statement to ESPN, Trier's mother, Marcie, said she is "devastated and heartbroken" by the NCAA's decision.
Marcie Trier's statement to ESPN on her son, Allonzo's, suspension by the NCAA: pic.twitter.com/IyNUdZdq93
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanESPN) February 23, 2018
No. 14 Arizona is 22-6 overall and 12-3 in the Pac-12 as the conference's first-place team. Trier's scoring average is second in the conference behind teammate Deandre Ayton (19.7) entering Thursday.
In his latest mock draft, ESPN's Jonathan Givony has Trier going midway through the second round to the Indiana Pacers.