TUCSON, Arizona — It was a couple of weeks ago when Arizona basketball players Kylan Boswell, Caleb Love, and Keshad Johnson visited Diamond Children's Medical Center where they painted white sneakers alongside cancer patients.
The sneakers were then worn by the Arizona coaching staff during road games at Oregon State and at Oregon. It's part of the Coaches vs. Cancer series to raise awareness for cancer research.
"We're all touched by this so anytime that we can use the platform of college basketball to promote some of the charities, that's a great thing," said Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd.
Cancer recently touched Lloyd's community. After the Wildcats beat Duke back on November 10th, Lloyd began his post-game news conference in an unexpected way.
"I got a good college buddy who's got a tough cancer diagnoses. His name is Andrew Reed. He and all my teammates, we weren't great players but we were great guys."
The sneakers that Boswell painted were the ones that Lloyd wore during the Wildcats two recent road games. Lloyd sat next to them during Wednesday's news conference.
"They actually turned out really good," said Lloyd. Some of them were a little rough but our coaching staff had fun with them."
There were twenty pairs in all. Now fans can bid on these sneakers (see below) with the proceeds going help build a new play zone at Diamond Children's Medical Center.
The auction comes a week and a half after Andrew Reed lost his battle with brain cancer.
"He was my age, 49," said Lloyd. "He had a family. It's hitting us all pretty hard."
The sneakers represent a cancer awareness partnership, and they are part of a nationwide collaboration, one that this season hit close to home for Tommy Lloyd.
"I hope you guys can support this as it's for a great cause."
