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USC Men's Basketball Struggles With COVID-19 Outbreak, Cancels Three Games On Schedule

USC Men's Basketball has canceled their next three games due to COVID-19.
Claudette Montana Pattison|
USC Men's Basketball Struggles With COVID-19 Outbreak, Cancels Three Games On Schedule
USC Men's Basketball Struggles With COVID-19 Outbreak, Cancels Three Games On Schedule

USC's first Pac-12 conference matchup against the Stanford Cardinal was canceled on Sunday due to COVID-19 cases. After the Trojans confirmed a case of COVID-19, all team activities were paused and all eyes looked to the Trojans next matchup against San Francisco on Wednesday, December 16th.

However, this morning USC Athletics announced that USC's next three schedule games would be canceled due to the virus outbreak. This includes a home game against San Francisco on Wednesday December 16th, Oregon Sate on December 20th and Texas Southern on December 23rd. 

The Pac-12 is still determined to re-schedule the matchup between the USC Trojans and Oregon State Beavers, as the conference will attempt to find a mutually agreeable date to reschedule the contest.

[READ: USC Basketball Sunday's Showdown Between Two Top-10 Recruits Postponed]

The Pac-12 released their COVID-19 testing policy two weeks ago, which outlined the strict protocols that each team must follow for health and safety measures. Per the Pac-12,

Testing Protocols

Key elements of the testing protocols for basketball student-athletes include the following:

  • Daily point-of-care testing on each day of full practice, higher-risk of transmission activity, travel, and games;
  • Minimum once weekly PCR test (in addition to daily point-of-care testing);
  • Any positive daily point-of-care antigen test must be followed by a PCR test within 24 hours;
  • Game day air ambulance service will be available in case any individual tests positive while traveling for competition;
  • For non-Conference opponents, a minimum of four tests the week leading up to competition, including on game day;
  • For multi-team events, a minimum of three tests per week leading up to the event along with a test on the day of arrival and prior to each game; and
  • All testing protocols continue to be subject to state, local, and campus public health requirements.

Game Cancellation Policy

The Pac-12 has established a minimum roster count with which a team is considered available to play a scheduled basketball game: at least seven (7) scholarship players and one (1) countable coach available to participate. If a team has fewer than the minimum roster available for a scheduled game, the impacted institution may elect to play the game with fewer than the minimum roster seven (7) scholarship players. Otherwise, upon review and approval by the Commissioner, the game may be rescheduled or declared a no contest. In all cases cancellation, postponement and rescheduling of a contest will be decided by the Conference in consultation with the participating teams and the Pac-12 medical advisory group.

In addition, a game may be canceled for:

  • Inability to isolate new positive cases within a team or athletic department, or to quarantine high-risk contacts (as determined by local public health and medical staff).
  • Unavailability or inability to perform testing as provided by the Pac-12 medical guidelines.
  • Campus-wide or local community transmission rates that are considered unsafe by local public health officials.
  • Inability to perform adequate contact tracing consistent with governmental requirements.
  • Local public health officials of the home team state that there is an inability for the hospital infrastructure to accommodate a surge.

The Trojans 2020-2021 season just kicked off on November 25th against Cal Baptist. Andy Enfield's team is currently (4-1), with their only loss of the season going to UConn Huskies.

[Read: USC Hoops: Roster Turnover Hasn't Slowed Down The Trojans]

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Claudette Montana Pattison
CLAUDETTE MONTANA PATTISON

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