COVID-19 postpones opener with OU
Sooners make call after positive tests and contact tracing
UTSA’S basketball game at Oklahoma scheduled for Wednesday was postponed just hours before tipoff because of positive COVID-19 tests and contact tracing in the Sooners’ program.
Oklahoma made the announcement at about 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, calling off a season opener set for 7 p.m.
The Roadrunners flew to Norman on Tuesday and originally planned to return to San Antonio on Thursday. Instead, UTSA began a bus trip home shortly after the scheduling change became official, a team spokesperson said.
UTSA and Oklahoma intend to explore options to reschedule the matchup, per a Roadrunners spokesperson. The Sooners also had to postpone their football game against West Virginia, which was set for Saturday, due to positive COVID-19 tests within their program.
Coach Steve Henson said Monday that UTSA has “had this game circled for months and months,” planning to meet the Sooners on the season’s original opening night. When the NCAA announced in September that the start of play was bumped from Nov. 10 to Nov. 25, the programs rescheduled to keep the game as their opener.
UTSA and Oklahoma have met each of the past three seasons, playing in Norman on Dec. 4, 2017, in San Antonio on Nov. 12, 2018, and in Norman again as the season opener for both teams on
Nov. 5, 2019.
Henson was an assistant under Oklahoma coach Lon Kruger for more than a decade, spending the 2004-11 seasons on his staff at UNLV and following him to Oklahoma for the 2011-16 cam
paigns.
Oklahoma announced a pause on all team activities Wednesday, also postponing a matchup against UCF set for Saturday.
The Sooners are scheduled for six nonconference games in December. The Roadrunners have four December games on the docket but are open for an 11-day stretch from Dec. 5-15. Both pro
grams play their final nonconference matchup Dec. 22 before beginning league play in early January.
The Roadrunners have gone weeks since their last positive COVID-19 test but were bracing for a year of disruptions, Henson said Monday. About 40 Division I programs have suspended basketball activities in the past week because of coronavirus-related issues, with a rash of games canceled or postponed across the country.
“Every coach has got those concerns right now,” Henson said Monday.“you try not to dwell on it, just try to stay prepared. We’ve been talking for months about being ready to pivot. Being ready to handle adversity. Being ready to make changes. And it’s going to happen. It’s just the nature of it.”
UTSA is scheduled to open the season against UT Permian Basin at 3 p.m. Friday in the Convocation Center before taking to the road to face UTRGV at 3 p.m. Saturday.