UCLA Men's Basketball Reschedules Arizona State Amid COVID-19 Return, Stanford Contest Pushed

The Bruins will finally get back on the court Wednesday after almost a month spent in health and safety protocols.

After a month of reschedulings and postponements, the Bruins are finally set to take the court once again.

No. 5 UCLA men's basketball (8-1) has announced a new-look schedule after postponing or backing out of five contests over the past month as a result of COVID-19. The first move was to call off a sixth game, although this time at the fault of their opponent's health and safety protocols, before adding another to the slate in the meantime.

Thursday's road game against Stanford will not be played as scheduled, as the Cardinal are now the ones dealing with the virus. UCLA will instead play Arizona State in Pauley Pavilion on Wednesday, making up a game originally scheduled for Jan. 1.

The game between UCLA and Cal in Berkeley set for Saturday will go on as planned. According to reports by Bruin Report Online and the Los Angeles Time, the Bruins are tentatively set to host No. 9 Arizona on Jan. 11 after calling off their Dec. 30 showdown, but that has yet to have been confirmed by the team.

The game between the Bruins and Sun Devils was supposed to be televised on FOX on New Year's Day, but in the new time slot, it will be broadcast on FS1 instead. The Wildcats' visit to Pauley Pavilion, considering it is not officially on the schedule as of Sunday, does not have a time or TV partner booked.

Before UCLA faced its own struggles with COVID-19, its Dec. 5 game at Washington was canceled due to issues on the Huskies' side. The Bruins' first in-house run-in with the virus came nearly two weeks later, when coach Mick Cronin was put into health and safety protocols a few hours before they were supposed to tip off against Alabama State.

That game was ultimately called off, as were the ensuing contests against North Carolina and Cal Poly. The games versus Arizona and Arizona State were postponed as part of that same string of protocols, even though UCLA had some players and coaches return to practice at the end of December.

UCLA was supposed to have played seven games between Dec. 5 and Jan. 5, but the team will ultimately only play one in that span – a Dec. 11 road win over Marquette.

The Pac-12 recently released new COVID-19 guidelines in concurrence with the CDC changing guidelines as well. Instead of the previous 10-day isolation period if testing positive, now if vaccinated athletes test positive for COVID-19, they will have to only quarantine for five days instead.

The Bruins' long-awaited return will begin at 7:30 on Wednesday against the Sun Devils. The game against Stanford still has to be rescheduled by the Pac-12.

Follow Connon on Twitter at @SamConnon
Follow All Bruins on Twitter at @SI_AllBruins
Like All Bruins on Facebook at @SI.AllBruins
Subscribe to All Bruins on YouTube

Read more UCLA stories: UCLA Bruins on Sports Illustrated
Read more UCLA men's basketball stories: UCLA Men's Basketball on Sports Illustrated