The NBA says Wednesday’s game between the Utah Jazz and the Washington Wizards has been postponed because of COVID-19 protocols.
The Latest on the effects of the coronavirus outbreak on sports around the world: ___ The NBA says Wednesday’s game between the Utah Jazz and the Washington Wizards has been postponed because of COVID-19 protocols. The league says because of contact tracing, the Wizards don’t have the required eight available players to take the floor for their scheduled home game against the Jazz. The Wizards said earlier Tuesday that two players had entered the league’s protocols meant to curb the spread of the coronavirus, and the team canceled practice. The postponement is the fifth in the NBA since Sunday, including three involving the Boston Celtics. ___ The National Hockey League says 17 of the 27 players that have tested positive for the coronavirus are on the Dallas Stars. The league announced COVID-19 testing numbers from Dec.30-Jan 11 on Tuesday. That included 12,000 tests administered to more than 1,200 players. Commissioner Gary Bettman on Monday said the testing numbers so far were very good. The NHL says most of the 17 Stars players are asymptomatic and all are recovering without complication. Dallas shut down its training camp Friday and resumed practices Tuesday with more than a dozen players still unavailable. The regular season starts Wednesday. The Stars were scheduled to play their first game Thursday but will not begin now until at least Jan.19. ___ The Nebraska men’s basketball game at Maryland scheduled for Saturday has been postponed because of a COVID-19 outbreak in the Cornhuskers’ program. Nebraska announced a pause in its program on Monday because of at least one positive coronavirus test. The Huskers’ game against No.14 Illinois on Wednesday also has been postponed. The schools and Big Ten Conference are working on rescheduling the games. ___ Hours after announcing the postponement of Saturday’s game against Villanova, No.4 UConn says it also must reschedule Wednesday’s women’s basketball game against Seton Hall. The Huskies say they are making the move as a precaution because of a coronavirus outbreak at Providence, a team the Huskies beat last weekend. The Villanova game was postponed because the Wildcats also are dealing with COVID-19 issues within their women’s basketball program. The game between UConn (7-0,6-0) and Seton Hall had been moved to Wednesday after the Huskies had to cancel a trip to Xavier because of coronavirus issues in the Musketeers’ program. The Huskies next scheduled game is against Butler on Jan.19. Teams must play 13 games this season to qualify for the NCAA Tournament. ___ The Czech Republic has been forced to withdraw from the handball world championship in Egypt after the team was decimated by coronavirus infections.
