Washington was forced to forfeit its home game Sunday against No. 5 UCLA because of COVID-19 concerns within the Huskies’ program.
Pac-12 Conference officials indicated before the basketball season that if teams are unable to agree on a reschedule date for any games affected by COVID-19 concerns, the team impacted by the virus would have to forfeit.
While the forfeit will be accounted for in the Pac-12 standings, it won’t count on the teams’ overall records, per NCAA policy, and will be considered a no contest.
The Huskies were supposed open Pac-12 play on Thursday at No. 11 Arizona, but that game was not played. Those programs agreed to reschedule that contest for Jan. 25.
A previous Los Angeles Times report indicated that seven Washington players and coaches tested positive this week, citing an anonymous source.
The Huskies lost to Nevada in the final game of last week’s Crossover Classic at Sioux Falls, S.D. Nevada then returned home to face Pepperdine on Tuesday, but did so without head coach Steve Alford due to a positive COVID-19 test.
Washington dropped an 82-74 decision to Winthrop last Saturday.
The Huskies were supposed to be facing three highly-regarded programs in succession: Arizona, UCLA and No. 3 Gonzaga. The road game against Gonzaga is scheduled for Dec. 12.
–Field Level Media
