COVID-19 issues at both USC and UCLA have blown apart parallel New Year’s weekend trips to Los Angeles for both the Arizona men’s and women’s basketball teams, while the men’s team filled the hole partly by rescheduling its home game with Washington for Jan. 3.
The sixth-ranked Arizona men won’t make the trip to Los Angeles at all after both USC and No. 5 UCLA announced continued pauses for COVID-19 protocols on Friday. The UA announced its Jan. 2 women’s basketball game at UCLA would also be postponed for COVID-19 issues within the Bruins’ program.
The fourth-ranked Wildcats women have been on a COVID-19 pause of their own, pulling out of last Sunday’s scheduled game with No. 11 Texas in Las Vegas. Arizona didn’t play a scheduled game at UC Riverside earlier this month because of protocols within the Highlanders’ program. The Wildcats’ Dec. 31 women’s game at USC is still scheduled for now.
The Wildcats’ men’s basketball team was scheduled to play UCLA on Dec. 30 and at USC on Jan. 2, but both the Bruins and Trojans announced Friday their pauses would extend to include games with Arizona and ASU.
Efforts will be made to reschedule the games under a policy revised by the Pac-12 earlier this week, which calls for games to be rescheduled or declared a no-contest in the event COVID-19 issues result in them not being played. The Pac-12 had previously ruled that a team with virus issues would be subject to losing by forfeit, though the conference is still reserving the right to declare forfeits this season.
The Wildcats men earlier a scheduled Dec. 2 home game with Washington called off. That game was initially rescheduled for Jan. 25 at McKale Center, but moved Friday to Jan. 3, since the the Huskies aren’t scheduled to play any games between Dec. 29 and Jan. 6.
In turn, that relieves the Wildcats from having to play the Huskies on Jan. 25, just two days after a road game at Cal.
The Arizona men’s players, meanwhile, scattered Thursday for a three-day Christmas break and have been scheduled to return Sunday to prepare for the Los Angeles trip. It is not known if the Wildcats will extend their vacation.
The Huskies, Trojans and Bruins men are part of an increasing wave of COVID-19 shutdowns affecting college basketball games all over the nation. As of Wednesday, CBS Sports said 57 of 358 Division I men’s programs have been affected by protocols this season.
USC’s men first announced their pause on Sunday, saying it would cancel a scheduled game with Oklahoma State, while noting that the status of future games would be determined. The extended pause through New Year’s weekend suggests the Trojans have multiple positive tests and/or quarantines extending beyond a week.
UCLA’s men have had an even tougher time of it, with games being called off already: Against Alabama State on Dec. 15, against Cal Poly on Dec. 18 and against North Carolina on Wednesday. According to the Los Angeles Times, UCLA coach Mick Cronin was placed in COVID-19 protocols before the Alabama State game, which was canceled just an hour before tipoff.
The Wildcats men have not had a COVID-19 issue of their own lead to a postponed or canceled game since coronavirus concerns shut down college basketball in March 2020, though eight UA games last season were postponed or canceled because of protocols that affected their opponents. UA has now had three men’s games postponed because of opponents’ COVID-19 issues this season.
Before UA’s 77-73 loss at Tennessee on Wednesday, UA athletic trainer Justin Kokoskie said all Arizona men’s scholarship players are fully vaccinated and have received booster shots. He said the team has also reinstated other cautionary measures it followed last season, such as eating team meals in a distanced environment.
