For the second week in a row the 10th-ranked Arizona women's basketball team has been impacted by COVID-19 protocols. The Wildcats were forced to postpone their matchup with Colorado on Sunday because of virus-related issues within the program, and late Tuesday evening the team announced that its upcoming road games against USC and UCLA have also been postponed indefinitely.

Head coach Adia Barnes has also cancelled her weekly media availability session that typically takes place on Wednesday, the program announced.

"The news of the cancellation is very disappointing to student-athletes, coaches and fans," the program said via a statement Tuesday. "However, health and safety must remain our top priorities as we move forward."

Barnes and her program have taken extra steps to remain healthy and keep the season moving forward during the challenging time for college teams. That includes using a wearable device to help the players remain socially distant and trace who they come into contact with during practices and games. It is a device that has been used in professional sports leagues with plenty of effectiveness.

Up until last week the extra measures had helped the Wildcats move forward this season without much of an interruption although Barnes previously mentioned contact tracing impacted how many players she had available for practice in the time leading up to the season opener.

Prior to Sunday's game against Colorado being postponed, UA had just one game impacted because of COVID-19 issues as its road contest against Washington on Jan. 8 was forced to be postponed because of virus issues for the Huskies.

Now, UA is in a similar position that many other teams have found themselves in this season. The Wildcats, which are currently in a tie with Stanford for first place in the Pac-12, have managed to play 11 conference games already, but some other teams have been forced to play fewer games than that.

Oregon State, for example, was out of action for a month and had eight of its games impacted by the ongoing issues caused by the pandemic leading to just nine contests played so far this season.

It has not yet been made clear how many members of the program have been directly impacted for UA. The Wildcats were able to play their game last Friday against Utah before announcing Saturday that Sunday's game was postponed. Prior to the announcement Tuesday the team had not taken a pause from its activities despite Sunday's postponement, and it remains unclear if that will happen now.

Barnes took part in her weekly radio show Tuesday evening just hours before the announcement was made by her program. Earlier in the day the UA head coach indcated in a tweet that she had received the COVID-19 vaccine.

The disruption for the program comes during a stretch that is supposed to take the Wildcats away from Tucson several times in the coming weeks. Five of the remaining seven games on the schedule are set to be played on the road making it an already challenging time for UA.

The Wildcats are currently 11-2 overall and 9-2 in Pac-12 play, and as of now the next game on the schedule is against Oregon State on the road in Corvallis on Feb. 5.

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