Husky Basketball Comes Off 21-Day COVID layoff to Face Seattle U
University of Washington men's basketball, an almost forgotten entity, comes off a 21-day layoff for pandemic reasons on Saturday night to face crosstown Seattle U at home.
The Huskies (4-5) haven't played since Nov. 27, when they lost to Winthrop 82-74 at Alaska Airlines Arena, two days following Thanksgiving and 24 hours after the Apple Cup.
Shortly thereafter, UW basketball players and coaches tested positive, forcing an immediate shutdown and cancellations or postponements of games against Arizona, UCLA and Gonzaga.
The three-week gap between playing dates during a season represents the largest in program history, surpassing a 20-day idle period early in the 1945-46 schedule and shortly following the end of World War II.
UW coach Mike Hopkins noted the irony of playing 26 games last year when vaccinations weren't available and no one tested positive for COVID-19 during the season, whereas everyone is now inoculated and a large segment of the team recently became ill.
"This year everyone was 100 percent [vaccinated] and it went through us," Hopkins said. "It's pretty scary when it happens but we all came out healthy."
Hopkins wouldn't give a number of those who tested positive, though a Los Angeles Times report early on said as many as seven players and coaches were affected.
The UW coach isn't sure what to expect from the Huskies (4-5), who returned to practice only last Monday and likely will have conditioning issues.
Even before the shutdown, the UW played inconsistently, splitting eight winnable games. The program still can't seem to totally shake the aftereffects of one of the worst downturns at any time for Husky basketball, which has lost 39 of its previous 52 games over three seasons.
But there's always Seattle U to kick around. The UW holds a 32-4 series advantage over the neighboring Redhawks after winning the past 16 consecutive games and not losing to them since 1979 when they were called the Chieftains.
Five weeks ago, Seattle U suffered the indignity of having to fire four-year coach Jim Hayford during the season for allegedly repeating a racial slur. Chris Victor is serving as interim coach for the Redhawks (8-3).
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