Despite COVID issues elsewhere, Wildcats and Volunteers head toward Wednesday showdown

Everywhere the Arizona Wildcats turn these days, there are shades of 2020 all over again.

Even before the current wave of coronavirus began hitting the sports world hard over the past two weeks, the Wildcats lost a Dec. 2 game with Washington when the Huskies had COVID issues.

Arizona’s next scheduled opponent, Tennessee, traveled to Nashville to play Memphis on Saturday but wound up scrimmaging against itself because COVID protocols hit the Tigers and forced a cancellation.

And of the Wildcats’ next two Pac-12 opponents, UCLA and USC, both are COVID-paused, with no telling if they’ll be able to host the Wildcats as scheduled over New Year’s weekend.

Even closer to home, the UA women’s team had to pull out of a showdown with Texas in Las Vegas on Sunday because of its COVID issues, and the radio shows of UA women’s coach Adia Barnes and men’s coach Tommy Lloyd were both cancelled Monday for what UA called a “precautionary measure.”

Still, the Wildcats practiced as usual Monday, planned to practice Tuesday before a flight to Knoxville, Tennessee, then face the No. 19-ranked Volunteers on Wednesday … at least as it is scheduled now.

“Obviously, COVID has gone crazy,” Lloyd said Saturday, after UA beat Cal Baptist 84-60 at McKale Center. “We’re seeing it and we’re doing the best job we can to be mindful of that within our group and trying to really become our own little cohort.”

Entering the season, Lloyd said the Wildcats were “100%” vaccinated, but the number of breakthrough cases in sports and elsewhere is making booster shots another big question. Lloyd said he’s recommending his players get boosters and that the staff has educated them about the situation but that “guys are gonna make their own choices,” having said he believes it is a personal decision.

“To my knowledge, everybody’s been double-vaxxed and a lot of guys have been boosted,” Lloyd said. “Then it’s just a little bit of common sense and hopefully we’ll be OK. But as you guys are seeing in all of society, it’s not avoidable. It’s happening. So we’re going to do the best job we can.”

Bennedict Mathurin said the Wildcats have talked about it in the locker room and know they need to take COVID precautions.

“We have plans and our plan is to win the national championship,” Mathurin said.“So if we see a guy go away, go (down) the wrong road, we just need to bring him back, because it’s the best for the team.”

Should the Wildcats run into issues, being fully vaccinated and located in Arizona could become a competitive advantage.

While all Pac-12 schools had to follow the same near-daily testing schedule last season, the conference’s updated guidance entering the 2021-22 school year calls for vaccinated players to be tested only if they have symptoms this season — and they are not subject to quarantine if exposed to anyone who has tested positive unless they have symptoms themselves.

That’s the guidance that UA largely has been following this season although Pac-12 schools are also subject to their own local public health requirements, which have been stricter in many areas of California and the Pacific Northwest than in Arizona.

While the UA women’s basketball team was forced to pause over the weekend, the UA men still not had to pull out of a single game since COVID began. However, the Wildcats had eight games rescheduled or canceled last season because of opponents’ COVID issues and the Washington game rescheduled for Jan. 25 this season.

Tennessee, meanwhile, had been charging through its schedule until Memphis pulled out Saturday. Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said the 15 of the Volunteers’ 17 players were vaccinated, including all those in the regular playing rotation.

“Our guys want to play,” Barnes said. “From the beginning, I give a lot of credit to our administrative staff, making sure our guys understood the vaccination, what needed to happen there.”

During a news conference Monday in Knoxville, Barnes said he didn’t know what happened with Memphis but that the cancellation cost the Vols about $30,000 in travel expenses and impacted those who traveled to watch the game, too.

“As bad as I felt for our players, I feel worse for our fans,” Barnes said. “We had a great turn out with our fanbase. We love going to Nashville. But I hurt for them, for the money they spent. Obviously they can get ticket (money) back, but all the other costs, they can’t get back.”

Rim shots

Arizona rose two spots to No. 6 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll, leapfrogging Kansas (9-1), which remained at No. 7, while Alabama fell from No. 6 to No. 10 after losing to Memphis. UA received one first-place vote, and was the only team other than No. 1 Baylor to receive one.

USC’s Chavez Goodwin was named the Pac-12 Player of the Week after averaging 18 points and seven rebounds in the Trojans’ wins over UC Irvine at home and Georgia Tech in Phoenix. UA had nominated Azuolas Tubelis, who averaged 17.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 6.5 assists in the Wildcats’ home wins over Northern Colorado and Cal Baptist.

Stanford’s Harrison Ingram was named Pac-12 Freshman of the Week.