5:14 PM Update

Oregon will be without their starting point guard Dominic Artis and as well as sophomore post Ben Carter for the time being.

Oregon has announced the suspensions of both Dominic Artis and Ben Carter and provided comments from both as well as from Oregon head coach Dana Altman.

EUGENE, Ore. -- The University of Oregon announced today that men’s basketball student-athletes Ben Carter and Dominic Artis violated NCAA rules by selling team-issued apparel over the past year. Per NCAA rules, each student-athlete will be withheld from participating in a yet to be determined number of games to start the season and must donate the value of the apparel to charity.

The selling of team-issued apparel is a violation of NCAA bylaw 16.11.2.1, which prohibits student-athletes from receiving an extra benefit.

The violations were discovered through an internal monitoring system and immediately investigated with cooperation of our student-athletes and violations were self-reported to the PAC-12 Conference and to the NCAA. The student-athletes were declared ineligible and have applied for reinstatement.

The Department of Athletics will continue to ensure strict compliance to all University, PAC-12 and NCAA rules and will further our compliance education of all staff and student-athletes.

Quote from Dana Altman:

"Ben and Dominic are two good young men who made a poor decision that was against NCAA rules. I feel that both regret their decisions and the impact that it has on their teammates and our university."

Quote from Dominic Artis:

“I want to apologize to the University, to Coach Altman and to my teammates for selling team apparel. I regret my actions and do not want this situation to define me or my character.”

Quote from Ben Carter:

“As a student-athlete at Oregon, I recognize that I have a responsibility to represent our team and our University at all times with the utmost of integrity. I regret the decision to sell the apparel and I am grateful to the NCAA and to the University for the opportunity to make amends.”

------------------------

Oregon men’s basketball sophomores Dominic Artis and Ben Carter will be suspended for the immediate future for violation of NCAA rules, sources confirm to DuckTerritory.com.

Artis, Carter, and three former players sold exclusive basketball shoes.

Campus Insiders reported the news first.

The expected timeline for Artis and Carter sources say is nine games lost.

Oregon self-reported the violation of NCAA rules.

Artis played in 28 games last season, starting 25. He led the team in assists averaging 3.2 per game. The 6-foot-1 point guard out of San Francisco, CA is expected to be the team’s top ball-handler this season and starting point guard. In the two exhibition games this season Artis came off the bench in both and averaged five points and two assists in 17 minutes of action per game.

Last season Artis’ best games as a freshman came against some of the better teams the Ducks played against. In a road game against UCLA he finished with 14 points, six assists, and one steal in 25 minutes of action. Against UNLV he posted 11 points, six rebounds, two assists, and three steals in 32 minutes. Against future NBA lotto pick Marcus Smart Artis helped lead Oregon to a NCAA first round victory over Oklahoma State with 13 points, four steals, two rebounds, and one assist.

Carter played in all 37 games for the Ducks last year as a reserve and averaged 2.4 points and 2.3 rebounds per game last season. This year the 6-foot-8 forward is expected to compete for a starting spot along Oregon’s front-court after the departure of Arsalan Kazemi and Tony Woods. Carter came off the bench in the two previous exhibition games this year and averaged three points and 3.5 rebounds in 10.5 minutes per game.

Ben Carter played sparingly as a freshman, but had a few promising games against good competition last year. He posted 12 points and five rebounds against UNLV and followed that game up with seven points and six rebounds off the bench against Cincinnati in games played in November.

The loss of Artis and Carter will hurt Oregon’s depth both at point guard and at forward. Oregon senior point guard Johnathan Loyd will assume the starting point guard role in place of Artis while seniors Waverly Austin and Richard Amardi will battle it out for the other forward spot opposite senior Mike Moser.

Sophomore forward Elgin Cook could also get himself into the mix at the starting power forward position.

The addition of Joseph Young this season will help make up for the loss of Artis for the first nine games of the season. The 6-foot-2 guard who transferred from Houston last year averaged 20.5 points per game in Oregon’s two exhibition games and handled the ball for parts of both exhibition games. Senior guard Jason Calliste will handle the backup point guard duties as Loyd moves to the starting position. Last season at Detroit Calliste averaged 14.4 points and 3.1 assists per game.

Last season the Ducks played nine games without their starting point guard when Artis injured his foot against Washington State on Jan. 23. Over that stretch the Ducks went 5-4 without Artis. Prior to his injury the Ducks averaged 75 points per game, but without him their scoring dropped to 63 points per game.

