No. 6 Baylor canceled its much-anticipated home game Thursday night against No. 3 UConn after Lady Bears coach Kim Mulkey tested positive for COVID-19.
Baylor said it began restricting team activities after Mulkey tested positive on Monday, the same day she had been planning to rejoin the team.
Mulkey missed Baylor’s win Saturday at TCU because of contact tracing after being exposed on Christmas Day to a family member who tested positive.
“I immediately self-quarantined and did not re-join the team when our staff and players came back from our holiday break,” Mulkey said in a statement Tuesday. “I produced three negative tests leading up to our game at TCU (on Saturday). However, I decided that it was important to continue quarantining in case the virus took time to come to fruition.”
Mulkey now hopes to rejoin the program Jan. 15, if she shows no symptoms.
UConn (6-0) is now scheduled to play at home Saturday against Providence in a Big East game when Huskies coach Geno Auriemma will seek his 1,098th win. That would tie him with the late Pat Summitt for second on the all-time wins list. Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer set the record earlier this season and now has 1,103.
The pandemic has disrupted college basketball since the season began in late November with scores of games canceled or postponed. The women’s teams at Duke and SMU have already ended their seasons early.
No. 2 Louisville hasn’t played an ACC game since its league opener Dec. 9 at Duke. The Cardinals had more conference games postponed this week, and on Tuesday played non-conference foe Tennessee-Martin for the second time this season. Louisville at one point went 23 days without a game.
The next scheduled game for the Lady Bears (8-1) is Sunday at home against Kansas State but Baylor medical staff are conducting additional COVID-19 testing to determine the length of the program’s restricted activity.
TCU coach Raegan Pebley also missed Saturday games against Baylor because of contact tracing.
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