UConn one of 5 Big East games canceled
UConn is nine games into the 2021-22 season.
On Sunday evening, its 10th scheduled game was canceled due to COVID-19 issues within the Marquette program.
The game, originally scheduled for Wednesday at the XL Center, was the first of five Big East women’s basketball games canceled this week due to the increase spread of COVID-19 and the Omicron variant.
The conference announced Monday in addition to Marquette, the Providence and Georgetown women’s basketball programs are also dealing with COVID issues and had to cancel two games each in the upcoming weeks. Providence canceled its game at Xavier (Dec. 31) and its game at Butler (Jan. 2). Georgetown canceled its home games against St. John’s (Dec. 31) and Seton Hall (Jan. 2).
There is no indication whether UConn’s scheduled game at Georgetown (Jan. 5) is in jeopardy.
Because of the increase surge of COVID-19 cases across the country and within the sports world, the Big East updated its game cancellation policy Thursday. Under the new policy, a Big East conference game will be canceled “in the event a school has fewer than seven scholarship players and one countable coach available.”
The conference will attempt to reschedule all
canceled games. If the game cannot be rescheduled, it will count as a no-contest for both teams.
Before Sunday, the Big East had yet to have any women’s basketball games affected by COVID-19 during this season (four men’s Big East basketball games were canceled, and UConn’s game at Xavier on Tuesday was canceled Monday night). Its previous cancellation policy resulted in canceled games being named a forfeit for the team dealing with COVID-19 protocols.
The pandemic canceled the 2020 NCAA Tournament and made last season a roller coaster of a scheduling mess as programs all across the country dealt with last-minute cancellations and postponements because of the virus.
UConn had to cancel its first four scheduled games of last season due to a shutdown after a member of the program tested positive for COVID-19. In March, coach Geno Auriemma tested positive for COVID-19, despite being
fully vaccinated, and sat out the team’s first two NCAA Tournament games in San Antonio as he quarantined in Connecticut.
The Huskies had six games — including two Big East games — canceled due to COVID-19 last year. Two nonconference games that were canceled were later rescheduled for the
2021-22 season (Louisville and Notre Dame), but canceled games against Baylor and Quinnipiac were not rescheduled.
In terms of Big East games last season, the Huskies played Providence and Villanova just once each in the regular season instead of their scheduled two matchups. The majority
of the Big East games that were postponed due to COVID-19 protocols were rescheduled before the end of the regular season.
While this year’s UConn roster is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, the omicron variant is quickly tearing apart the sports world with a handful of NHL, NBA and college football games already canceled. Various collegiate athletic programs, like Yale , have banned fans at games through the end of the year in response to the uptake in positive cases.
UConn players returned to campus this week after going home for the holidays, including international players Nika Mühl (Croatia) and Dorka Juhász (Hungary). The Huskies’ next game is scheduled for Dec. 31 at DePaul — its first of three straight road games, including the Jan. 5 game at Georgetown.
The Huskies have just three homes games scheduled for the month of January and return to Storrs on Jan. 9 to host Creighton.