UCLA coach Mick Cronin directs his players during the second half against Abilene Christian in the second round of the NCAA tournament in Indianapolis on March 22, 2021. (Mark Humphrey / Associated Press)
Can you make up a makeup game?
UCLA’s basketball team will have to try after its first two attempts to play Arizona State this season were wiped out by COVID-19 issues within each program. Most recently, a makeup game scheduled for Wednesday night at Pauley Pavilion was postponed because of issues within the Sun Devils’ program.
The teams had originally been scheduled to play Jan. 1 before that game was postponed as part of the fifth-ranked Bruins’ pause of basketball activities after a COVID-19 outbreak starting in mid-December.
UCLA’s next scheduled game is Saturday at California, but the Bruins are searching for an additional opponent to add to their schedule this week before traveling to the Bay Area, even if it’s a nonconference opponent.
UCLA has not played in more than three weeks, its last game coming against Marquette on Dec. 11. Nonconference games against Alabama State, North Carolina and Cal Poly were canceled and Pac-12 games against Arizona State and Arizona were postponed. The Bruins (8-1, 1-0) will also try to make up games against Stanford and Washington that were postponed because of COVID-19 issues within those programs.
If UCLA is to make up all of the games that need rescheduling, it will likely have to play three games in multiple weeks. Possibly helping the Bruins’ bid to play a full schedule were recent rules adjustments by the Pac-12 that shortened the isolation and quarantine periods for players in COVID-19 protocols and do not require re-testing for anyone who tests positive for the virus for the next 90 days.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
