USC and Arizona will not make up their postponed Jan. 2 game on Saturday, a source told the Star, leaving the Wildcats again without an opponent to play this weekend.
The Wildcats had arranged to host Colorado State on Saturday at McKale Center before the Mountain West Conference instead ordered the Rams to play at San Diego State, which lost a game with Nevada for Saturday because of the Wolf Pack's COVID-19 issues.
Once USC became available Saturday when its game with Stanford was postponed for that date, Arizona expressed interest in making up the Jan. 2 game β even though it meant short notice for a trip to Los Angeles. The program learned early afternoon Thursday that it would not happen.
Arizona is therefore left with trying to find another nonconference opponent at the last minute to play this weekend or go another week-plus without a game. Their next scheduled game is Jan. 13 against Colorado at McKale Center.
The Wildcats have played only the one game against Washington since Dec. 22, when they went to Tennessee. They took a three-day break over Christmas and returned on Dec. 26, but had scheduled games against UCLA (Dec. 30) and USC (Jan. 2) postponed because of COVID issues with the Bruins and Trojans. Then they had their Saturday game at ASU postponed when the Sun Devils ran into COVID-19 problems.
The Pac-12 says it has the final right to reschedule conference games, but does so after consulting with teams and television partners. Further complicating UA's issue are the temporary orders barring fans from indoor events at USC and UCLA, meaning those schools would have to face the Wildcats without crowd support and the extra gate revenue.
If the Wildcats were to add a nonconference game Saturday, they would have to secure a βlegislative relief waiverβ from the NCAA because doing so would mean they would exceed the scheduling maximum if they also still wind up playing a full 20-game conference schedule.
Arizona has had four conference games postponed so far and has made up one of them, the home game against Washington that was originally scheduled for Dec. 2 and instead played on Monday. Arizona's games at UCLA, USC and ASU have not been rescheduled, meaning the Wildcats will either face a hectic existence ahead or not play a full 20-game conference schedule.
Arizona has never had a COVID-19 pause of its own, but the Wildcats had eight games canceled or postponed because of opponents' issues last season. They still managed to play a full 20-game conference schedule and six of seven possible nonconference games.
