‘We’re good to go’
UConn, Hurley return from COVID pause to face Seton Hall
UCONN at No. 24 SETON HALL
STORRS — On to Seton Hall!
After a pair of gamecancellations and nearly three weeks without a full practice, UConn coach Dan Hurley announced on Thursday his team is ready to return to the floor on Saturday at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. against 24th-ranked Seton Hall, his alma mater.
In fact, Hurley is confident that his team will have no more COVID-19 pauses, and no more game cancellations (at least on its end) the rest of this season.
“I can say with as much confidence as a basketball coach can, it looks good for us to be able to play this out through, hopefully late into March,” Hurley said in a media availability after practice at Gampel Pavilion.
The reasons for Hurley’s optimism? For one, the
Saturday, Noon (FOX)
NCAA announced on Thursday that players who have tested positive for COVID within the past 90 days are considered immunized and, essentially, the same status as fully-vaccinated players.
And while the NCAA also said that players are only considered fully-vaccinated if they’ve received a booster shot, along with the vaccine, Hurley noted that several players have been boosted within the last few days.
“We’re good to go,” Hurley said. “I have pretty good confidence that we’re gonna be able to play this out. As long as our opponents (comply). I think enough guys have had it, enough guys are boosted ... we should be good to go from here on out.
Hopefully.”
Of course, the Huskies won’t necessarily be at full strength on Saturday. Adama Sanogo, who missed four games and returned to UConn’s most recent bout on Dec. 21 at Marquette, is dealing with a hamstring injury suffered in that game. He didn’t practice on Wednesday and was limited on Thursday.
However, the Huskies also got to “double figures” in terms of guys practicing on Thursday, Hurley an
nounced — though a few were limited to certain segments of practice.
“It’s not an ideal situation,” Hurley said. “But, at least we’ve been able to get in here together. And, we’ve got a game on Saturday. That’s obviously going to be challenging, considering the opponent and what we’re dealing with. But, we’re thrilled to get out and play.”
UConn had nine players test positive for COVID, beginning on Christmas Day through the ensuing several days after. On Monday, the team only had six scholarship players who were full-go and a seventh as limited (not including Corey Floyd Jr., who is redshirting, or Sanogo). Hurley said that on Friday, the team may have its most complete practice yet.
Teams must have at least seven healthy scholarship players and one coach, or games will be canceled/ postponed. UConn had its last two scheduled games (at Xavier on Dec. 28, and vs. Butler in Hartford on Jan. 1) canceled. Both will be made up, on Feb. 11 and Jan. 18, respectively.
During the Huskies’ recent three-week pause, the nine COVID-positive players were quarantined at different times and unable to practice at all. The six players who tested negative have been able to do individual workouts, weight-lifting, conditioning, etc., but obviously haven't been able to practice 5-on-5.
Grad point gaurd R.J. Cole announced on Thursday that he was one of the players to test positive. The only other UConn player known to have tested positive is walk-on Andrew Hurley, Dan’s son.
Senior wing Tyrese Martin
said he tested negative.
The remainder of the Huskies’ season promises to be busy, filled with scheduling quirks. The Huskies will face Butler in back-to-back games, at home on Jan. 18 and in Indianapolis on Jan. 20. They’ll play nine games in a 26-day span in February.
“We’ve asked for a lot of things from the conference office, and haven’t got much of it,” Hurley said. “That’s where it hurts us having bye weeks so early in your conference schedule. It really comes back to hurt us. I’ve voiced my displeasure about having bye weeks so early in conference play. But, like some other things we’ve brought up, scheduling-wise, with the conference, there was no adjustment made.”
“We’ll just deal with it,” he said. “We’re thrilled to be able to play out a full season, after last year. Players love to play games, and they love less practice time. So, victory for the players, bad for me.”
UConn women’s coach Geno Auriemma recently said he won’t let his players play in a game unless they’ve had five practices under their belt. Hurley doesn’t exactly adhere to the same thinking, but noted players with little practice time would likely be subject to minutes-limits — like
Sanogo, who played just 13 minutes at Marquette.
“And he still tweaks his hamstring, because he’s not in game-shape because of the abdominal thing,” Hurley said. “That’s the scary part of the situation, with so many guys, critical players, having it and not having much practice time or buildup before you’re gonna go play an outstanding team that’s gonna have everybody back.”
The Huskies had several shutdowns, pauses and cancellations last season and ultimately played just 23 games. But this pause seemed even longer to Hurley — especially since the team had three days off prior to Christmas, as well.
“It was even more challenging than what we dealt with last year,” Hurley said. “The good news for us is that enough guys had it where I think we’ve got a runway the rest of the year where we’re gonna be able to go.”
“It feels great to be back with the team,” the coach continued. “It feels unbelievable to be back doing what a lot of people need us to do. We’ve got some incredible fans who get so much joy out of watching us play, going through the season with us.”