All Bruins

Games Between UCLA Women's Basketball, Arizona, Arizona State Pushed Back Due to COVID-19

The Bruins are still caught in health and safety protocols and won't play again until the New Year.

Benjamin Royer

(Jared Tay/All Bruins)

The Bruins’ matchups with the Arizona schools will have to wait, as COVID-19 has pushed another two games to later dates.

UCLA women’s basketball (5-3) has postponed its upcoming games against Arizona State (7-5) and No. 4 Arizona (10-0) originally set for Dec. 31 and Jan. 2, respectively, due to continued issues with COVID-19.

The Bruins have now called off six games in a row and have been facing issues with COVID-19 since games were called off versus Texas Southern, Cal State Bakersfield and Ohio State. The program remains shut down, and no team activities are being held.

Following the postponements against the Roadrunners and Buckeyes, the Bruins had officially shut down all team activities.

Unlike the three non-conference matchups which will not be played, UCLA’s conference games with USC, Arizona State and Arizona will all be played at a later date, with the Trojans' contests against the Bruins already being rescheduled for Jan. 20.

Similar to the men’s basketball postponements, UCLA Athletics announced that any tickets for the games versus the Sun Devils and Wildcats will be valid for whenever those end up happening.

The two basketball teams share the Mo Ostin Center for practices, dining, meetings, weight lifting and general training. It is undetermined whether the protocols affecting the teams stem from the same inciting incident, but following coach Mick Cronin's media availability last Tuesday morning, he was seen conversing with a member of the women's team, one day before he entered protocols.

The vaccination status of the roster has not been disclosed by UCLA Athletics, but as employees of the state of California, the coaching staff is required to be vaccinated. UCLA required all students who came on campus for the fall to be vaccinated or submit an opt-out waiver.

A new Pac-12 policy on COVID-19 cancelations has decided that forfeits will no longer occur and that all affected games will either be rescheduled or not played at all.

With Friday’s changes to the schedule, UCLA women’s basketball's next game will be Jan. 7 at Utah, almost a full month from their Dec. 11 matchup versus UConn in New Jersey.

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Benjamin Royer
BENJAMIN ROYER

Benjamin Royer is a contributing writer at All Bruins, in association with the FanNation and Sports Illustrated networks. Royer is a third-year student at UCLA, where he is a Sports contributor for the school's award-winning student-run newspaper, The Daily Bruin. Royer was previously the Sports Editor at The Valley Star, Los Angeles Valley College's independent newspaper, and he helped develop the Twinger Talk YouTube channel and The Double Play podcast. He is also a professional actor, previously appearing in programs on Showtime, ABC, Disney Channel, FOX and CBS.