Utah basketball starting center's status for senior night vs. Colorado in question

Utah center James Okonkwo is a game-time decision for Tuesday night's matchup against Colorado, according to the team's game day availability report.

Okonkwo, who was listed as "questionable" in Monday's initial report, has started the previous 19 games at the center spot for the Runnin' Utes (10-19, 2-14) and is the team's second-leading rebounder entering Tuesday.

Utah's frontcourt has been down a body all season with Babacar Faye nursing a leg injury he sustained in September. The 6-foot-8 forward's absence has thursted freshman Kendyl Sanders into an unexpected role as an immediate contributor off the bench for Alex Jensen and company.

If Okonkwo is out of the mix for Tuesday, Sanders' workload will likely increase for Tuesday's bout with the Buffaloes (7 p.m. MT, ESPN+). The 6-foot-8 Los Angeles native averages 5.1 points and 3.1 rebounds in 20.5 minutes per game off the bench.

In addition to two frontcourt players, Utah won't have sharpshooting guard Jacob Patrick and 6-foot-9 forward Ibrahima Traore for Tuesday's game as well. Patrick was knocking down 46.5% of his 3s before going down with an injury hasn't played since Dec. 6 against Cal Baptist.

The Buffaloes made a late scratch as well in their game day report. Sebastian Rancik, the team's third-leading scorer (12.3 points per game) was ruled out after not showing up on the team's initial report. The 6-foot-9 sophomore had 19 points against Utah in the Buffaloes' 85-73 win over the Utes on Jan. 7.

Okonkwo is one of two players Utah will honor during Tuesday's senior night festivities, along with fifth-year guard Don McHenry. Okonkwo played two seasons at West Virginia, spent one year at North Carolina and was at Akron last season before transferring to Utah for his fifth year of college hoops. In 26 games with the Utes, he put up 2.7 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.0 blocks per contest.

Coming off a loss to Arizona State, Utah enters Tuesday's game against Colorado with an opportunity to improve its seeding for the Big 12 tournament. The Utes can clinch the No. 15 seed if they beat the Buffaloes or win at Baylor on Saturday, and Kansas State loses both of its final two regular season games against West Virginia and Kansas. Utah and Kansas State are currently tied for the No. 16 seed with identical records (2-14) in league play.

Colorado, meanwhile, was in lockstep with Arizona State for the No. 11 and 12 seeds going into Tuesday. The Buffaloes hold the tiebreaker after beating the Sun Devils earlier in February.

Utah Availability Report

Out

F Babacar Faye
G Jacob Patrick
F Ibrahima Traore

Game-Time Decision

F James Okonkwo

Colorado Availability Report

F Sebastian Rancik