Utah Basketball Canceled Against Oregon State Due To COVID-19 Protocols

Wednesday night's showdown between Utah and Oregon State has been canceled due to COVID-19 protocols within the Beavers program — It's unknown if the game will be made up

If Utah basketball is going to get back to its winning ways, it will have to take a little more time. 

The school announced on Tuesday afternoon that its contest on Wednesday against visiting Oregon State was canceled due to COVID-19 protocols within the Beavers program.

Our game tomorrow vs Oregon State has been postponed due to COVID-19 testing results & contact tracing within the Beavers program.

📰 https://t.co/9H1kFGiM8u pic.twitter.com/BAJ4uBIxyU

— Utah Basketball (@UtahMBB) January 5, 2021

Utah will now work in conjunction with the Pac-12 and Oregon State with hopes of finding a makeup date. The Utes aren't scheduled to play again until Sunday against No. 17 Oregon while the Beavers' next scheduled game is Saturday in Boulder against Colorado.

There is a possibility the game is delayed until Thursday or Friday — with Oregon State moving its game against Colorado to Sunday. Oregon State has had COVID-19 tracing and protocol issues recently, rescheduling their game against Stanford that was played this past Monday.

Utah head coach Larry Krystkowiak said potential changes are coming to the starting lineup, and that he's going to start rewarding players who've earned playing time in practice.

“Consistency is a big part of this game for young players,” he said. “It is not about dazzling anybody over a 40-minute period, but it is about coming in every week and really grinding and continuing to get better. … I may very well switch up the lineup. We are going to start rewarding some guys who played well in practice.”

He also said he's looking to get bigger potentially, which could mean good things for freshman guard Ian Martinez, who stands 6-foot-3 and is coming off his best game of the year.

“I am just trying to keep adjusting to this level, and there are a lot of new experiences, which I am really excited about,” Martinez said Saturday. “I am just (concerned with) getting better and being able to contribute to the team and play my role as well as I can. I think it is getting a lot better.”

Apart from the offensive woes, Krystkowiak is liking where his team is at defensively after they held both UCLA and USC below their season averages in scoring. He's hoping that as the defensive continues to improve, it will help ignite the offense by getting out in transition and develop a rhythm.

Utah will now host the No. 17 Ducks on Sunday at 12 p.m. MT at the Jon M. Huntsman Center. The game will be televised by the Pac-12 Networks.

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