Aggie foe denies virus tied to turnout
Grand Canyon on pause, had big crowds last week
LAS CRUCES — Grand Canyon University’s WAC men’s basketball game on Friday against Texas Rio Grande Valley was postponed and Saturday’s game is to be determined due to COVID-19 issues on the team.
But the school does not believe there is a correlation between last weekend’s increased attendance at GCU arena for the Lopes’ sweep of New Mexico State and the team’s COVID-19 related issues involving this weekend’s series.
“It’s highly unlikely,” said Jamie Boggs, interim vice president of athletics at Grand Canyon. “The NCAA requires 12 feet between the court and the nearest fans, and we are at between 20 and 24 feet. You would see more spread on campus and our numbers are actually lower.”
The university increased student attendance to 900 students for the New Mexico State game, or 13 percent capacity in the arena. The student population was on the opposite side of the arena from the pass list for both Grand Canyon and New Mexico State fans.
Student seating was set to be in pods of four consisting of close friends or roommates, and alternated every other row with some rows taped off. But on TV, it appeared the smaller student section resembled a mini representation of the rowdy student section The Havocs prides itself to be.
Boggs said there was no evidence through contact tracing during the first semester and, after an initial spike due to students returning to campus, that basketball games were responsible for spreading the virus on campus, which led to a gradual increase in attendance from 250 students at the beginning of the year, to 325 to 900 prior to the New Mexico State game.
“I didn’t watch the game and you are the first person to call or e-mail me about it,” WAC commissioner Jeff Hurd told the Sun-News.
“Every state and every county and city has their own guidelines so the WAC does not have a league wide policy. I don’t know what the Arizona guidelines are or in Phoenix, but they would have to be followed.”
Hurd also pointed out that the chairman of the WAC’s Medical Advisory Group is GCU team doctor Kareem Shaarawy.
GCU doesn’t play another home game until Feb. 12. It’s unclear at this time if Grand Canyon will continue to increase student attendance or scale back.
“I think we have been very data driven and we will continue to monitor the spread and if we are able to increase, we will, and if we need to lower capacity, we will,” Boggs said.
Men
CAL BAPTIST 85, NEW MEXICO STATE 75: In El Paso, Reed Nottage scored 19 points as Cal Baptist topped New Mexico State on Friday night.
Tre Armstrong and Gorjok Gak added 18 points each for the Lancers (9-5, 4-3 WAC).
Jabari Rice had 17 points and six rebounds for the Aggies (3-4, 0-3). Clayton Henry added 11 points and seven rebounds. Evan Gilyard II had 11 points.
Due to local restrictions regarding the coronavirus pandemic in New Mexico, the game was played at Eastwood High School.
NEVADA 74, BOISE STATE 72: In Reno, Nev., Grant Sherfield hit a jump shot with three seconds left to lift Nevada to a win over Boise State.
On the next possession for the Broncos, RayJ Dennis missed a 3-pointer, allowing the Wolf Pack to hold on for the victory.
Desmond Cambridge Jr. had 21 points to lead the Wolf Pack. Sherfield added 20 points.
K.J. Hymes Jr. had 17 points for Nevada (13-7, 8-5 Mountain West Conference), which earned its fifth straight home victory. Derrick Alston Jr. had 23 points for the Broncos (14-3, 10-2).
Women
CAL BAPTIST 94, NEW MEXICO STATE 53:
In Riverside, Calif., undefeated Cal Baptist routed New Mexico State in a WAC matchup.
California Baptist made eight 3-pointers in the first quarter and never looked back in easily improving to 15-0 overall and 7-0 in league play. New Mexico State is 3-7, 1-2.
The Lancers finished one shy of the WAC record with 17 3-pointers.
Tayelin Grays and Rodrea Echols each scored 11 points for the Aggies and freshman Taylor Donaldson added a careerhigh six points. Shania Harper had eight points and nine boards.
The Aggies and Lancers are set to square off again Saturday at 3 p.m.
WASHINGTON STATE 67, No. 5 UCLA 63: In Pullman, Wash., freshman star Charlisse Leger-Walker scored the first nine points and the final nine of the game for the Cougars (9-6, 7-5, Pac-12), who earned their first victory ever over a team ranked in the top five.
Leger-Walker, who led all scorers with 28 points, hit a 3-pointer with 42 seconds left that lifted the Cougars to a 64-63 lead they would not relinquish. She added three free throws as the Bruins failed to score again.
Charisma Osborne had 21 points for UCLA (10-3, 8-3).
No. 3 UCONN 87, MARQUETTE 58: In Milwaukee, freshman Paige Bueckers scored 30 points to lead UConn to a win over Marquette in a battle for first place in the Big East.
Christyn Williams added 18 points for the Huskies (13-1, 11-0).
Lauren Van Kleunen had 18 points to lead Marquette (13-2, 9-2).
No. 6 STANFORD 62, COLORADO 54: In Stanford, Calif., fifth-year senior Anna Wilson had 11 points and four steals and the Cardinal returned home for the first time in more than two months to beat Colorado .
Kiana Williams added 16 points as Stanford (16-2, 13-2 Pac-12) withstood a late rally by Colorado (6-9, 4-8).
Note
The San Antonio, Texas, region will host the entire NCAA women’s basketball tournament.
The move Friday was made to help mitigate the risks of COVID-19 and matches that of the men’s tournament, which the NCAA said last month will be played in the Indianapolis area.
The tournament will still feature 64 teams and will run from March 21 through April 4.