Missouri has suspended forward Jordan Barnett for the Tigers' opening game Friday of the NCAA tournament after the team's second-leading scorer was arrested for suspicion of DWI early Saturday morning.
According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Missouri coach Cuonzo Martin said Barnett would be available for the Tigers if they advance past the first round.
"It'll be the next man [in] and we keep moving," Martin said Sunday, according to the Post-Dispatch. "It's what it is. We've managed to get to this point. You have Mike [Michael Porter Jr.] there in the fold. Jordan's out, Mike's in. I'm not sure how we'll start lineups. I don't know about that."
The eighth-seeded Tigers (20-12, 10-8 SEC) open the NCAA tournament against No. 9 seed Florida State (20-11) in Nashville, Tennessee.
Barnett, a senior from St. Louis, was pulled over by police officers in Columbia, Missouri, at 3 a.m. Saturday for a traffic violation. Major Brian Weimer of the University of Missouri Police confirmed to ESPN in an email that Barnett was charged with DWI and failure to drive within a single lane.
Barnett, a 6-foot-7, 215-pound wing player, is averaging 13.7 points and 5.9 rebounds per game this season. He struggled in Missouri's 62-60 loss to Georgia in the second round of the SEC tournament in St. Louis on Wednesday, scoring three points on 1-for-8 shooting.
Porter, a Missouri freshman and a potential NBA lottery pick, returned to play in the SEC tournament after a long layoff due to a back injury that required surgery. He hadn't played since the season opener against Iowa State in mid-November, took a game-high 17 shots against Georgia but made only five for a total of 12 points. He also tied for a team-high eight rebounds.
Information from ESPN's Mark Schlabach was used in this report.