Coronavirus pandemic forces UNLV basketball to make adjustments

The games came fast and furious for UNLV early in the season.

The opener against Montana State. Three games in three days at the Maui Invitational. A Dec. 5 trip to Kansas State. The Rebels played five games in the basketball season’s first 11 days.

They haven’t played one since. The team’s Wednesday game against Eastern Washington was canceled because of a positive COVID-19 test in the program. It forced UNLV to make adjustments before its 6:30 p.m. game Monday against Pepperdine at the Thomas & Mack Center and accept that no game is a given this season.

“Every practice we have, every opportunity together, every chance that we have to play, we really need to treat that (well) and hold it in a high regard,” coach T.J. Otzelberger said, “because you just don’t know what’s coming next.”

UNLV did not have to stop all team activities after the cancellation, but it changed its schedule and routine to ensure everyone’s health and safety. It’s not the first time the pandemic has altered the Rebels’ plans.

The team couldn’t work out together over the summer because of the virus. A planned trip for the program was squashed. It certainly hasn’t helped a roster with 11 newcomers jell quickly. Junior guard Bryce Hamilton said before the season he pretty much spends all his time at the practice facility or his apartment.

“We can’t do much. We’ve got to be conscious of COVID,” Hamilton said. “It does definitely feel like a bubble.”

UNLV is far from the only program dealing with COVID-19. Its game against Eastern Washington was one of 12 postponed or canceled Wednesday, including a marquee matchup between No. 4 Michigan State and No. 18 Virginia. Otzelberger did not know Friday if the Rebels would be able to reschedule their game or find a new opponent before Mountain West play begins.

CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein tweeted Wednesday that approximately 21 percent of scheduled games had not been played to that point. He said Friday that 36 schools — of the 357 in Division I — were on a COVID-19-related pause.

Programs have had different responses to those numbers. Iona coach Rick Pitino has advocated for pushing the season back. Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski canceled his team’s two remaining nonconference games. Michigan State’s Tom Izzo, however, has said it’s better for the players to keep everything going.

“The greatest mental health is when an athlete is in athletics,” Izzo said on CBS Sports Radio.

The number of teams affected has only grown as the virus continues to spread faster throughout the country. It has surged so much in Nevada that hospitals are treating the most COVID-19 patients per capita in the nation, according to data posted by The COVID Testing Project on Thursday.

That means the Rebels must be vigilant the rest of the season. Or else there will be more blank dates on the calendar like Wednesday.

“That’s what we’re all dealing with this year with COVID, trying to get through the challenges,” Otzelberger said. “We’ve just got to do the best we can of weathering the storm, staying as safe and healthy as we can and being ready to pivot when things come up.”

Contact Ben Gotz at bgotz@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BenSGotz on Twitter.