UCLA men’s basketball returns to practice but Arizona game still postponed

It appears that UCLA’s COVID issues are over, as the Bruins have returned to the practice court after having all team activities paused since Dec. 15.

That’s a great sign, but it also means UCLA would be eligible to play on Thursday when it was supposed to host No. 9 Arizona (11-1, 1-0 Pac-12) in a battle of Top 10 teams.

Fifth-ranked UCLA (8-1, 1-0) postponed its games with the Wildcats and ASU (Jan. 1) on Dec. 24, citing COVID protocols, but three days later were back in action. Per the Pac-12’s recently changed administration policies, a team coming out of a COVID pause “shall have a minimum of two days to conduct full practices before resuming competition.”

That means the Bruins would be allowed to resume games as soon as Wednesday, one day before it was supposed to host the Wildcats. Instead, that game is still off, as is Arizona’s Jan. 2 game at USC.

The UA, which last played Dec. 22 at Tennessee, is scheduled to host Washington on Jan. 3, a game that was originally scheduled for Dec. 2 at McKale Center but was moved to Jan. 25 due to Washington’s COVID issues but was moved up to shorten the Wildcats’ gap between games.