Houston Chronicle

Texas A&M and UCLA prepare for opener under vastly different conditions.

- By Brent Zwerneman brent.zwerneman@chron.com twitter.com/brentzwern­eman

The Texas A&M women’s basketball team remains scheduled for its exhibition game next week in Barcelona, where a van drove into pedestrian­s in a historic district popular with tourists, killing 13 people and injuring at least 100.

The A&M team was in Madrid on Thursday and is scheduled to play there Friday in the first of four exhibition games on a 10day trip that includes Valencia and Barcelona.

“All individual­s with the group are safe and accounted for,” the school said. “The Department of Athletics is in contact with the team and the organizers of the tour. The safety and security of our student-athletes and the entire travel party is our highest priority.”

Men’s basketball teams from several U.S. universiti­es, including Oregon State, Clemson and Arizona, were in Barcelona on Thursday. School officials said the players and staff were safe.

Oregon State assistant coach Gregg Gottlieb posted to Facebook: “We are all luckily ok. Our hotel/restaurant is located right on Las Ramblas. This tragedy happened right in front of us as our team just sat down for pregame meal. Thoughts and prayers for all those that are were hurt.”

Spanish police have confirmed they are investigat­ing the bloodshed in the historic Las Ramblas district as a terror attack. The area is a popular tourist spot and several teams were staying in the area.

College basketball teams are allowed to travel internatio­nally during the summer once every four years. They are allowed to practice for 10 days and usually play a few exhibition games abroad. The trips offer teams a chance to get a jump-start on the season and give the players a cultural experience.

Oregon State was staying in the same hotel as Clemson, which had been scheduled to play Thursday night against a Spanish All-Star team.

Clemson coach Brad Brownell confirmed in a text to the Associated Press everyone was well.

“We are fine. Thankful to be safe and together,” Brownell wrote.

The Beavers’ game Thursday night was canceled. Oregon State said it has not determined the remaining schedule for the team, which was supposed to be on the tour until Aug. 25. A spokesman for Arizona said the Wildcats have canceled their final exhibition and “are currently working on travel plans to return home.”

Tulane was among the teams in Barcelona, staying at a hotel away from the attack. The team planned to return to the U.S. as scheduled Saturday.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States