Washington State’s Jeff Pollard leaves Pac-12 opener against USC with injury

PULLMAN – A Washington State team that’s dealt with a series of injuries and ailments through the first two months of the 2019-20 basketball season saw another key player leave the floor Thursday night in the Pac-12 opener against USC.

Starting forward Jeff Pollard took a hard spill while battling for a rebound in the first half and came off the floor holding his nose. Pollard officially left at the 15:11 mark of the first half and spent time in WSU’s injury tent before eventually leaving for the locker room with a towl on his face.

Pollard didn’t come back to the game in the first half and Cougars broadcaster Matt Chazanow confirmed the senior would not return in the second.

It adds to the injury woes for Kyle Smith’s team, which entered the conference schedule Thursday without guards Jaylen Shead and Marvin Cannon, who also missed WSU’s final nonconference game against Arkansas-Pine Bluff.

Noah Williams and Isaac Bonton have also missed games due to injury this season, while graduate transfer forward Deion James was ruled out for the season with a rare heart infection.

True freshman center Volodymyr Markovetskyy, a 7-footer from the Ukraine, had already logged nine minutes – one short of his season-high – by the midway point of the second half, playing in Pollard’s absence.

Pollard, a Bountiful, Utah, native, was scoreles on 0-for-1 from the field when he left in the first half but had no other statistics.