Washington State-Arizona State postponed because of Cougars’ COVID-19 developments

For the second time during the 2020-21 season, and for the third time in the past year, a men’s basketball game between Washington State and Arizona State was postponed or canceled as a result of COVID-19.

Less than an hour before the Cougars and Sun Devils were scheduled to tip off at noon in Tempe, multiple reports from The Athletic and 247Sports.com suggested the game wouldn’t happen because of positive COVID-19 tests within WSU’s program.

At 11:16 a.m., a WSU release stated “due to recent health and safety developments within the Washington State basketball program working within the university’s COVID-19 protocol, the Cougar men’s basketball game at Arizona State, scheduled for Monday, March 1, has been postponed.”

According to the release, the Cougars and Sun Devils may try to make up the game while both teams are in Las Vegas for the Pac-12 Tournament “if a date and time can be found.”

Monday’s game was already a makeup date for WSU and ASU after a Dec. 31 meeting between the teams in Pullman was postponed because multiple Sun Devil players were in COVID-19 protocol. On Saturday, ASU held off WSU 77-74 in overtime, winning on on Remy Martin’s deep 3-pointer right before the buzzer.

Monday’s postponement marked the third time WSU and ASU couldn’t play a game as scheduled because of COVID-19. The Cougars and Sun Devils were supposed to match up in the quarterfinal round of the 2020 Pac-12 Tournament in Las Vegas before the event was canceled.

As of now, the Cougars sit at 14-12 overall and 7-12 in Pac-12 play. If the game against ASU isn’t made up, WSU would be guaranteed a winning record regardless of what happens in the conference tournament. As the current No. 9 seed, the Cougars would play the No. 8 seed in Las Vegas at 1 p.m.