COVID-19 shuts down Wyoming basketball

LARAMIE -- Friday night, while the Cowboys football team was hosting Hawaii in front of 6,000-plus fans, the Wyoming basketball team learned it would be forced to shutdown operations thanks to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, sources told 7220sports.com.

Monday, the team publicly announced that it is entering a "pause of activity" because on student-athlete tested positive for the virus.

"... It did not meet the threshold of University of Wyoming polices for the university to take action, but under an abundance of caution Wyoming Athletics issued the pause," a school press release states. "All men’s basketball student-athletes are currently in quarantine." 

In early October, 11 football players tested positive for the coronavirus, prompting the university to shutdown practice over the weekend while the entire team underwent testing.

More than 30 freshmen were forced to "shelter in place" for a week, per a school press release on Oct. 2. Most of the freshman class missed two weeks for practice, before returning just days before the Pokes' season opener at Nevada.

On Oct. 13, new Wyoming basketball coach Jeff Linder told the local media his team had zero cases, but contact tracing had forced some players to miss two weeks of practice. Linder said somedays Wyoming has had just nine available players for practice.