Coronavirus scare causes UVU basketball wins as Chicago State cancels games

With only two scheduled games left to play in their regular season, the Utah Valley men’s basketball team will only have to play one of them. Chicago State, the last scheduled game for the Wolverines, announced that they will not participate in their remaining games, both on the road, due to COVID-19, also known as the Coronavirus. 

This doesn’t change much for the Cougars as far as WAC playoff spots go, as they currently sit in last place with a season conference record of 0-14. They were scheduled to travel to Seattle on Thursday, March 5 and come to Utah Valley on Saturday, March 7. 

The Cougars also announced that they will not host basketball events on their campus either. UVU’s womens team was scheduled to play their final regular season game in Chicago, who also hold the worst WAC record at 1-13. Before the Wolverines, SU was scheduled to make an appearance at CSU.

There have been more than 100 cases of the Coronavirus in the United States, including nine deaths. Each of those deaths have occured in the state of Washington, home to SU. 

SU said in a statement first reported by the Associated Press that the decision was made with the “health and well-being of the campus community in mind.” It is believed that these canceled games are the first due to a virus in the United States.

WAC officials released a statement Wednesday morning confirming CSU’s decision as well as announcing that the University of Missouri-Kansas City will cancel their game against SU on Saturday, March 7. 

“While disappointed that the situation has evolved as it has, I fully respect the right of any member institution to determine what it believes to in the best interest of its student-athletes,” said WAC Commissioner Jeff Hurd in the statement.

In a statement from UVU athletics, it was confirmed that the canceled games will result in wins for their opponents — though for official NCAA records they will be considered “no-contests.” 

The UVU women’s team will improve to 10-5, with a chance to finish the season off at 11-5 if they were to beat UMKC on Thursday, March 5. 

UVU’s men’s team will improve to 6-9 on the season with a chance for a final regular season record of 7-9 with a win at home against UMKC, also on March 5. The Wolverines had originally planned on celebrating their four seniors in their final home game against CSU. Instead, that event will take place on March 5.

It is unclear whether CSU plans to travel to Las Vegas, Nev. for the WAC tournament. With the worst records in both men’s and women’s divisions, both are in last place in WAC standings and would play New Mexico state on the men’s side and UMKC on the women’s side.