Cal Basketball: Golden Bears, Minus One, Are Cleared to Resume Practice

Cal missed five days of workouts after one player tested positive for COVID-19

Photo by D. Ross Cameron, USA Today

The Cal men’s basketball team was set to return to the practice floor on Sunday after missing five days because a player tested positive for COVID-19.

Cal Athletics announced all players who have not tested positive were cleared following “further investigation and detailed follow-up with all parties, including contract tracing and additional testing.”

The Bears halted practice Tuesday after a player received a positive result from a regularly scheduled COVID-19 test. At the time, Cal announced that all workouts would be suspended “for up to two weeks,” in accordance with public safety regulations.

Sunday’s news was big for the Bears.

“We have missed some valuable practices at a most critical time,” Cal coach Mark Fox said. "It will be great to be back in the gym as we work to catch up.”

College basketball teams are permitted to play their first games as early as Nov. 25, which is little more than weeks away. The Bears have not announced their non-conference schedule, although we know they will play their first Pac-12 game on Dec. 3 at home against Arizona State.

Cal has not identified the player who tested positive, but he continues to exhibit no symptoms, the athletic department reported. He will return to practice after his isolation and medical evaluation.

The Bears want every bit of practice time available because they have five new players — two grad transfers, a sophomore transfer and two freshmen. Cal remains a fairly young team, featuring eight scholarship freshmen and sophomores.

And two of their three seniors, transfers Ryan Betley of Penn and Makale Foreman of Stony Brooks, are newcomers to the program. So there are a lot of new moving parts to assemble.

The Bears improved to 14-18 overall last season in Fox’s debut season. Cal won only eight games each of the two previous seasons.

The 2020-21 team is expected to continue its improvement, although progress may be modest. The team’s best player is junior guard Matt Bradley, who averaged 17.5 points a year ago and earned second-team All-Pac-12 honors.

.

.

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo

Click the "follow" button in the top right corner to join the conversation on Cal Sports Report on SI. Access and comment on featured stories and start your own conversations and post external links on our community page