Arizona women’s basketball’s Jan. 28 game at California postponed due to COVID-19 protocols within the Golden Bears’ program

It was going to be a busy 10 days for Arizona women’s basketball. Beginning with their game on Jan. 21 against Utah, the Wildcats were slated to play five games in 10 days. That won’t happen as the game between UA and California scheduled for Jan. 28 has been postponed due to COVID-19 protocols within the Golden Bears’ programs.

Friday’s game will be the second missed contest in a row for Cal. The Bears had to postpone their game on Jan. 23 against Stanford for the same reason.

The question for the Wildcats is whether the Jan. 30 game at Stanford will still go on. The Cardinal have not released any information about their status, but they hosted Cal the day before that program shut down. The only match-up between last year’s national champions and runners-up is scheduled to air on ESPN2. If it is postponed or canceled, Arizona will miss both of its regular-season games on ESPN networks this season due to COVID-19.

Arizona was prepared for the likelihood of the game at Cal being canceled. Wildcats head coach Adia Barnes spoke about the possibility after the team defeated Colorado on Sunday.

“It’s hard as a coach,” Barnes said. “I mean, (Cal head coach) Charmin (Smith) may not know until Monday, and then you play a Wednesday. It’s not easy being prepared for those things. And for us, we don’t know for sure if we’re playing on Friday. Changes our whole week because we go from a six-day road trip to going to LA, coming back, and then resting before Stanford. So, it drastically changes our week, too. So during these times, it’s difficult to manage as a coach.”

The Wildcats next play at UCLA on Wednesday, Jan. 26 at 6 p.m. MST. The game will be aired on Pac-12 Network, Pac-12 Arizona, and Pac-12 Los Angeles.