He is the first Trojan player to be declared ineligible in UALR Coach Steve Shields' eight seasons. Shields did not comment on Kibi's status.
Kibi started the season hot, but he had become less a part of the rotation in recent weeks. He averaged 5.3 points and 4.4 rebounds in 17.5 minutes this season.
At one point early in the season, Kibi was averaging 12 points and 4.7 rebounds. But after playing 31 minutes in a Dec. 5 victory over Tulsa he hasn't played more than 17 since. That included just four minutes Dec. 21 vs. Akron and seven mints Dec. 30 vs. North Texas. He did play 17 minutes on Sunday against Denver.
Kibi shot 45 percent from the field, but struggled to score when matched against bigger players. He was an effective rebounder.
Kibi is the third Sun Belt Conference player to be declared ineligible at mid-term. Western Kentucky lost highly-touted freshman Brandon Peters and Troy lost DeAndrae Ross.
(We tried to get this up last night but the Blog software wouldn't cooperate. It's still acting up a bit this morning. BTH apologizes for the delay.)
