Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

No Canada: UNLV basketball cancels exhibition trip

UNLV Rebels First Practice

Steve Marcus

UNLV holds the first basketball practice of the 2018-19 season at Mendenhall Center Friday, Sept. 28, 2018.

UNLV basketball has canceled its weeklong preseason exhibition trip to Canada, which was scheduled for next month.

The Runnin’ Rebels were set to play a series of four exhibition games against Canadian opponents from Aug. 11-17, but the COVID-19 pandemic has made that sort of international trip impossible.

The cost of the trip would have been approximately $60,000, but by canceling before 30 days, UNLV will be able to recoup those expenses.

Canada is currently restricting “discretionary” travelers into the country, a category which includes sports and entertainment. That restriction runs until July 21, but given the United States’ struggles to contain the outbreak, it is unlikely that Canada will loosen the border before Aug. 11.

The NCAA allows Division I basketball teams to schedule a foreign exhibition tour once every four years. UNLV last exercised that option in 2016, when Marvin Menzies took the team to the Bahamas for a preseason tournament prior to his first season at the helm.

The coronavirus continues to cause uncertainty across the college sports landscape. UNLV coach T.J. Otzelberger has said that college basketball may have to consider eliminating non-conference games in 2020-21 while pushing the season’s starting date to January. On Wednesday, it was reported that the Maui Invitational, which UNLV is set to participate in from Nov. 23-25, is still planning to proceed as scheduled.

Mike Grimala can be reached at 702-948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Mike on Twitter at twitter.com/mikegrimala.

Join the Discussion:

Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.

Full comments policy