SPOKANE, Wash. — Gonzaga men's basketball announced on Sunday they it was pausing all team activities through Dec. 14 for safety of the players due to coronavirus.
The Zags had two positive coronavirus tests on Saturday before the team's highly anticipated matchup against Baylor. That game was canceled.
Here's a timeline of what led up to the shutdown of Gonzaga's basketball team.
Monday, November 23rd
- Gonzaga travels to Fort Myers for Fort Myers Tip-Off Tournament.
Wednesday, November 25th
- Gonzaga staff member tests positive for coronavirus.
Thursday, November 26th
- Gonzaga announces staff member tested positive on Wednesday before Kansas game and that they have put two other staff members in quarantine.
- Gonzaga beats Kansas, 102-90.
- Julian Strawther tests positive for coronavirus at some point after the game.
- Teammate Dominick Harris is the lone Gonzaga teammate identified as a close contact by Fort Myers contact tracers.
- Gonzaga deletes video of squad celebrating Head Coach Mark Few's 600th win against Kansas. Video shows Julian Strawther surrounded by teammates.
Friday, November 27th
- Gonzaga announces positive case for a player and that both Gonzaga and Auburn doctors, in consultation with Fort Myers health officials came, to the conclusion that it was safe to play their game, despite two positive cases within Gonzaga's program in 48 hours.
- Dominick Harris' dad tweets that his son is in quarantine and has not tested positive.
- Julian Strawther the only other Gonzaga player not on the Zags' bench.
- Gonzaga beats Auburn, 90-67.
Monday, November 30th
- Gonzaga departs Fort Myers for West Virginia and Baylor games in Indianapolis. Team takes two planes to Indy, one with staff members aboard and another with players.
Wednesday, December 2nd
- Gonzaga defeats West Virginia, 87-82.
Saturday, December 5th
- Gonzaga announces at 8:30 am that they have had a player and a staff member test positive. The player did not play in the game against West Virginia. Gonzaga's game against Baylor is postponed.
- The program did not announce any numbers for team members needing to quarantine, unlike previous releases.
- Gonzaga AD Mike Roth tells the Spokesman Review that they still hope to play game on Tuesday against Tarleton State.
- Gonzaga travels back to Spokane that afternoon. The two team members who tested positive were left in Indianapolis. The team spent four and a half hours on Gonzaga's private plane. They arrived back in Spokane at 6 pm. This travel was approved by the Spokane Health Regional District.
Sunday, December 6th
- Gonzaga announces at 4:15 pm that they are shutting their program down until December 14th "out of an abundance of caution". Gonzaga does not include in their release if they have any more positive cases.
- Shutting down until December 14th means that the Zags lost home games against Tarleton State, Southern, Northern Arizona, and Idaho, but did not lose their neutral site game against currently third ranked Iowa on December 19th.