Cal Basketball: COVID-19 Strikes Again - Opener vs. Colorado State is Off

Bears trying to find replacement for Wednesday game at Oregon State

Photo by Cody Glenn, USA Today

Cal’s basketball opener against Colorado State on Wednesday in Corvallis, Ore., has been canceled.

The Rams were forced to withdraw from the two-game event at Gill Coliseum because of two positive COVID-19 test results within their program.

Cal was working Monday with officials from Oregon State, host of the two-day event, in efforts to locate a replacement opponent for Colorado State.

The "men's basketball program will pause team activity through Dec. 2 due to two positive COVID-19 tests within the program,” Colorado State said in a news release.

As a result, Cal basketball will follow the lead of football in playing an opening game against an opponent arranged just 48 hours ahead of time. The Bears’ football team was supposed to play Nov. 7 at Arizona State but the Sun Devils bailed and UCLA was installed as a last-minute replacement.

The Cal basketball team, beginning its second season under coach Mark Fox, still plans to travel to Oregon this week. The Bears are scheduled to conclude the event at OSU with a Thanksgiving Day matchup against Northwest University, an NAIA team from Washington.

Cal is scheduled to open its 2020-21 home schedule next Monday at Haas Pavilion against Nicholls State.

The Bears then tip off Pac-12 play Dec. 3 at home against Arizona State before facing UCLA in Westwood on Dec. 6.

Cal’s only other scheduled non-conference games are Dec. 9 at Pepperdine and Dec. 13 against USF at Haas Pavilion.

The Bears, led by preseason All-Pac-12 selection Matt Bradley, were picked 10th in the conference this season. Cal was 14-18 last season after winning just eight games each of the two previous seasons under former coach Wyking Jones.

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

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