Arizona's Dec. 3 game at UC Riverside has been canceled due to COVID-19 protocols within the Highlanders' program, the schools announced Wednesday.
The UA said it "will explore the possibility" of rescheduling the game for later this season. Riverside has canceled its next three games because of the coronavirus; the Highlanders aren't scheduled to play again until Dec. 16.
The cancellation means the Wildcats will have 12 days off after they return from the Paradise Jam, which starts Thursday in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The ninth-ranked Wildcats will play Vanderbilt at 1:30 p.m. in a game that will be streamed on ESPN3.
Following Saturday's Paradise Jam finale against Rutgers, Arizona will be off until Dec. 9, when it hosts North Dakota State in McKale Center.
The cancellation is the first for any major UA sport since the start of the 2020-21 academic year. The Wildcats' football team played β and beat β a Cal program that kept many players home because of the virus, but no other events had been canceled (or even postponed) because of virus issues.
