UCLA Basketball Cancels Third Straight Game Due to COVID-19 Outbreak
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) - The UCLA Men's Basketball program has canceled their third game in the span of a week following a rash of COVID-19 cases that developed beginning on Wednesday, December 15.
The Bruins announced that the contest with Cal Poly, scheduled for Wednesday, December 22 would be cancelled due to "COVID-19 developments within the Bruins program." They also announced that the game will not be rescheduled, considering the fact that it is a non-conference matchup.
The team also indicated that "the status of future games is to be determined."
News first broke early Wednesday afternoon, when it was announced that Head Coach Mick Cronin would be unable to coach during that evening's matchup against Alabama State. He was placed into COVID-19 Protocols, with associate head coach Darren Savino prepared to take over the team for the contest. A few short hours later, and just one hour before tip-off, the game was cancelled due to location of other breakthrough cases. It is unclear if the game will be rescheduled.
All basketball program activities were promptly suspended following the cancellation of the game.
UCLA's Director of Athletics Martin Jarmond released a statement on Thursday in response to the sudden onset of the virus, and cancellation of game in the midst of a season where the Bruins are poised to make a NCAA Championship run in March Madness: "Fans - I know canceling last night's game was very disappointing for all and a major inconvenience for many, let alone on short notice; however, the difficult decision was the right thing to do for the safety of everyone - players, students, fans and employees. We do not have an update yet on this Saturday's game against UNC in Las Vegas. We'll let everyone know as soon as possible."
On Friday, the program posted on Twitter, informing fans that Saturday's game against North Carolina, part of the CBS Sports Classic, was also to be canceled for the same reason. With the game scheduled to take place in Las Vegas on Saturday, the team has announced that the non-conference matchup will not be rescheduled.
It didn't even take a full day for the next game to get canceled, despite the scheduled game time being four days from the announcement on Saturday. The game was slated to take place at Pauley Pavilion.
UCLA has also canceled two home games for the women's program, a December 19 matchup against Ohio State and a December 21 contest against Cal State Bakersfield. They have not indicated whether the game will be made up or cancelled.
The UCLA website reported that, "Single-game ticket purchases for Wednesday's game will be automatically refunded. UCLA men's basketball season ticket holders will automatically receive a credit for the cost of Wednesday's game to their UCLA ticket account."
This is the fourth game that has impacted the Men's season, with a December 5 matchup forfeited by Washington due to their own respective COVID-19 outbreak.
UCLA is 9-1 on the season and ranked No.4 in the country.
(© Copyright 2021 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)