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WSU Men's Basketball

Washington State-Colorado basketball game postponed due to Cougars’ COVID-19 ‘developments’

Washington State’s Noah Williams (24) drives into Colorado’s Shane Gatling (0) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in the first round of the Pac-12 men’s tournament Wednesday, March 11, 2020, in Las Vegas. (Associated Press)
By Theo Lawson theol@spokesman.com(509) 459-5584

Washington State’s Pac-12 road opener at Colorado has been postponed because of recent COVID-19 “developments” within the Cougars’ basketball program, the school announced in a statement Friday night.

The Cougars (3-0, 1-0) and Buffaloes (3-0, 0-0) were scheduled to tip off at 1 p.m. at the CU Event Center.

WSU’s official statement read in full: “Due to recent developments in Washington State’s COVID-19 protocol, the Cougar men’s basketball game at Colorado, scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 5, has been postponed.

The Pac-12 Conference will work with both programs to attempt to find a mutually agreeable date to reschedule the contest.”

The school isn’t releasing any further details at this point and it’s unknown if WSU basketball players tested positive for COVID-19 or came in contact with someone who did. The former requires a 10-day isolation period while the latter requires 14 days in quarantine.

Given those parameters, it’s possible the program’s COVID-19 developments may also affect upcoming games against Idaho (Dec. 9), Portland State (Dec. 13) and Montana State (Dec. 18).

The Buffaloes recently overcame their own COVID-19 outbreak. Colorado suspended operations temporarily and postponed its Pac-12 opener against Arizona, but Smith told reporters Wednesday after WSU’s 59-55 win over Colorado he’d been in communication with Buffs coach Tad Boyle and the game was still on track to be played.

“I heard from Tad everything’s a go,” Smith said. “It looks like they tested and it looks like no problem, the game will be played.”

On Nov. 18, Smith announced he’d tested positive for COVID-19, exactly a week before the season opener against Texas Southern. The school initially announced Smith would miss the Texas Southern game, but it was later determined he could coach the team because he showed symptoms prior to his positive test.Two WSU football games, against Stanford and Washington, were recently canceled because of COVID-19 issues that propped up for the Cougars. At least nine football players were in COVID-19 protocol before the scheduled game at Stanford, but athletic director Pat Chun said Thursday night that number would be down to five by Friday and fewer than five by the time WSU kicks off at USC on Sunday.