Colorado senior guard Elijah Parquet was oddly absent for the Buffs' Thursday night game against No. 16 Southern California.

In his absence, Tad Boyle tweaked CU's starting lineup for the first time this season, inserting sophomore guard Nique Clifford for tipoff vs. the Trojans.

Parquet eventually made his way to the Colorado bench, where he was dressed in street clothes and wearing a medical boot on his right foot/ankle.

The absence snapped a streak of 45 straight games that Parquet had started dating back to early in the 2020-21 season, when he was sidelined for a Dec. 8, 2020, game at Tennessee due to COVID-19 protocols.

Following Colorado's 61-58 loss, Boyle didn't have much of an update on Parquet's status moving forward.

"I don't have any feel for that," he said. "I don't know if he'll be out a day or a week or two weeks or a month — I have no idea."

Parquet's status for Saturday evening's game vs. No. 9 UCLA remains up in the air.

Boyle provided another less-than-crystal-clear reply when asked about Parquet following the Buffaloes' Friday practice in Boulder.

"We'll see. I don't know the answer to that. I really truly don't," Boyle said. "That's going to be up to Eli — that much I do know — and his ability to tolerate pain."

To date, Parquet had been averaging 7.1 points per game and shooting 46% from the floor. His 29.9 minutes per game led all Colorado players.

The Buffs (12-5, 4-3 Pac-12) and Bruins (14-2, 4-1) tipoff from the CU Events Center tomorrow night at 7 p.m. MST. The game will be televised on the Pac-12 Network.