Malik Pope Will Play Tuesday Against Boise State

After conducting an internal investigation, San Diego State University has given senior forward Malik Pope its blessing to play Tuesday night against Boise State.

Pope was held out of Saturday’s win over San Jose State after a report surfaced saying he received a $1,400 loan from a sports agent.

The allegations stem from an ongoing federal investigation that includes more than 20 Division-I schools and more than 25 current and former NCAA players.

Pope was accused of accepting the loan, which the NCAA classifies as an impermissible benefit that violates their “amateurism” rule.

“Malik and I spoke Friday morning after the story was first published,” said SDSU head coach Brian Dutcher. “He told me immediately that he did not accept money and did not know either of these two individuals linked to the report.

That said, it was important for Malik, as well as the program and University, to make sure there was a thorough review process.

“We shared our findings with the NCAA and informed them that Malik will be playing in games beginning (Tuesday).”

Malik Pope statement:

I, along with my family, have never had contact nor accepted anything from the two people named in the story.

Since the report, I have worked with our compliance office to show that I have not broken any NCAA rules.

I want to thank the San Diego State community for their support and faith in me during this process.

I look forward to joining my teammates on the court this week for our final two regular season games.

SDSU associate athletic director of compliance Andy Humes statement:

Due to the timing and nature of an allegation regarding Malik Pope that first appeared in an online article on February 23, 2018, it was determined to be in the best interest of Malik, the men’s basketball program and SDSU, to withhold Malik from the team’s competition on February 24 while an internal investigation was conducted.

SDSU’s investigation has found no evidence that Malik received any impermissible benefits or violated any NCAA rules.

The NCAA Enforcement staff has been apprised of the internal investigation’s findings.

Lastly, Malik and the men’s basketball staff have cooperated fully and willingly with SDSU at all times throughout the process.

Pope is averaging 12.7 points and 7.1 rebounds this season.

Senior Night is Saturday evening when first-place Nevada visits Viejas Arena at 7 p.m. PT in the regular season finale.