MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Not long after the West Virginia women’s basketball team had finished up its 88-79 victory against Ohio University on Monday, Kysre Gondrezick’s car was packed and headed north toward Michigan.
“I’m actually about to get on the road now and make this trip and get home,” she said during a postgame Zoom call with the media. “The sooner the better.”
It will be Gondrezick’s first in-person contact with her family since June, back when WVU was still on lockdown over COVID-19 restrictions.
“I’m happy coach (Mike Carey) is giving us room to go home, because it is a privilege,” Gondrezick continued. “I have a couple of friends at other schools that I’ve talked to and they’re not allowed to go home.”
Both Carey and WVU men’s coach Bob Huggins came to the decision of letting players return home for Christmas after a number of discussions with fellow coaches throughout the Big 12.
Players for both teams are expected to return to Morgantown on Dec. 26.
According to a WVU official, players will be tested immediately upon return and would have to test negative before practicing that day.
“If anyone in the program were to test positive (on the 26th), there would be immediate contact tracing and that person would have to quarantine for 10 days,” said WVU Sports Information Director Bryan Messerly.
Huggins’ and Carey’s decisions did not come as an afterthought.
In recollection, Huggins said when athletes first went home in March after the school was shut down, “That was probably the biggest mistake I ever could have made,” he said. “When they returned from going home, that’s when they were testing positive.”
Both programs had to halt summer workouts for two weeks in July after players and staff members in each program tested positive for the coronavirus.
Since those initial positive tests, no player or staff member in either program have tested positive and they have been tested three times each week, in accordance with Big 12 policy.
The concern from the coaches, though, comes with how their players conduct themselves once away from the school for the holiday.
“What are you going to do?” Huggins asked. When they get back, we’ll test them and then we’ll test them again for another two days. These guys have been really good, but that’s not to say that one of their relatives may not have it.
“For crying out loud, the President of the United States had it. If we can’t keep him safe, we can’t keep grandma safe, either. It is what it is, you just deal with it.”
The flip side is the players have known nothing but basketball and remote learning for the last six months.
They have been careful to keep themselves away from much of the outside world in order to keep playing, and even when playing games, the arenas have been mostly shut off to fans.
“For me, personally, for my mental health, it’s a good break to have,” Gondrezick said. “To be able to go home and have time with my family and loved ones, I think that’s all that’s important now.
“The fact that coach Carey has done this, it shows the trust he has in us. As a team, we’ve done a good job so far of staying away from the virus. We understand that it affects all of us if it just affects one of us.”
A good portion of the men’s team was not expected to travel during the holiday.
Players such as Gabe Osabuohien, Oscar Tshiebwe and Seny Ndiaye live internationally, while teammate Emmitt Matthews Jr. hails from Tacoma, Wash., nearly 2,600 miles away from Morgantown.
WVU point guard Deuce McBride, from Cincinnati, said he was planning on traveling and felt a break was needed at this time.
“We’ve been working really hard and have had a great start to the season,” McBride said. “I think the break is well needed to give us time to reflect and look back at what we’ve done right and look at what we need to work on. Obviously, off the court, family is everything. At Christmas time, I’m just going to enjoy my time at home.”
TWEET @bigjax3211
