HARTFORD, Conn. — The UConn men’s basketball season has been disrupted by COVID-19 for the third time.
The Huskies are compelled to postpone upcoming scheduled games against Villanova on Thursday night and at St. John’s on Sunday, following a positive test result from one of the game officials who worked their 63-51 win over Butler at Gampel Pavilion on Tuesday.
The program “will enter into a daily testing protocol and a modified quarantine,” the university said. “The team will not compete against an outside opponent until it is deemed safe by medical professionals.”
The Huskies will be able to get some work in until it’s determined there are no cases within the program. This is the third time the UConn men have had to suspend play during the pandemic, including a two-week quarantine, Nov. 5-19, during the preseason and a pause from Dec. 6-20, both due to positives within the program.
These are the ninth and 10th games to be postponed due to COVID-19 positives within UConn’s, or opponents’ programs.
The Huskies (8-3, 5-3 in the Big East) need to play at least two more games to reach the 13-game minimum to qualify for the NCAA Tournament. They now have nine games still on their schedule, and three games for which make-up dates have yet to be announced by the conference, against Xavier and Villanova at home, and at St. John’s.
There is not much open space between now and the scheduled start of the Big East tournament in March to squeeze those in.
The Huskies’ next scheduled game is vs. Seton Hall at Gampel Pavilion on Feb. 6.
