AUSTIN (KXAN) — Shaka Smart’s Texas Longhorns will get an unexpected week off the Big 12 schedule as college basketball attempts to play its season during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Texas at TCU game scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 23 has been postponed, according to Texas Athletics. The Longhorns’ Wednesday road game at Iowa State was also postponed due to COVID-19. Iowa State has paused all team activities.
This is the fourth Texas men’s basketball game affected by the pandemic this season. The Big 12 plans to reschedule all postponed conference games. Texas has three games to makeup — at Baylor, at Iowa State and at TCU.
TCU head coach Jamie Dixon announced on Twitter Monday that he tested positive for the virus and is self-isolating. TCU’s home game against Texas Tech scheduled for Wednesday has also been postponed.
Texas was missing three players in Saturday’s win against Kansas State. Forwards Greg Brown, Kai Jones and Brock Cunningham were out for an undisclosed reason.
The Longhorns used eight players for the majority of Saturday’s game, building a 20-point lead at halftime and cruising to a 82-67 win over the struggling Wildcats.
Texas was ranked fifth in the Associated Press Top 25 poll released on Monday.