Traveling in the coronavirus pandemic: How road trips have changed for WSU basketball

Traveling to play road games during the coronavirus pandemic has been a challenge for college basketball teams all over the country.

The Wichita State men’s basketball team was one of the first to experience this, as a batch of positive COVID-19 tests on Nov. 23 forced the Shockers to exit the season-opening Crossover Classic in South Dakota.

WSU has since avoided COVID-19 problems within its own program, but opponents haven’t — three of the Shockers’ American Athletic Conference games this season have been postponed and are still waiting to be rescheduled following positive tests and contact tracing on other teams.

As the Shockers (11-4, 7-2 AAC) head back on the road this week, starting with Wednesday’s 6 p.m. game streaming on ESPN+ against Central Florida (5-9, 3-8 AAC) in Orlando, The Eagle spoke with director of basketball operations Dominic Okon, who handles all travel arrangements for WSU, to see how WSU has managed such a unique season.

“Just like everything with COVID, you learn as you go,” Okon said. “There have been things that you don’t prepare for, but once they happen, you have to find a way to make it work. There’s no script for this.”

As you would expect, social distancing and wearing masks are requirements for WSU’s basketball players. But how WSU operates on the road has changed following the team’s bout with the virus late this summer and into November.

According to multiple sources within the program, the majority of WSU’s 16-player roster has already contracted the virus. As a result, the Shockers have found things simpler by separating players who have already tested positive from the ones who have not.

That affects who can sit by each other on the team bus or plane, who can room together in hotels on the road and even who can sit by each other on the bench during games (name tags on the chairs designate who sits where).

“It’s been a challenge trying to figure all of that out, but we try to separate them the best we can,” Okon said.

Per conference rules, WSU has to test three times weekly with at least one of those tests following a day off and one no more than 24 hours prior to game time. According to WSU interim coach Isaac Brown, the health and safety protocol states players who have tested positive for the virus do not have to test again for 90 days following their last positive test.

For the players who contracted the virus in November, that 90-day period is expiring in February, meaning WSU will have to begin testing its full roster again soon.

Brown said the early-season scare helped the players understand just how serious they needed to handle the situation.

“I think we’ve been lucky,” Brown said. “You try to prevent it the best you can, but people are getting it in so many different ways. I do think the fact that we got it early on, it got those guys’ attention and they started doing the right things. Our guys have done a good job and now we’re at the point where some of those guys are coming off the 90 days of antibodies and now our whole team will start testing again. Early on, it was only like four, five people testing.”

Another change has been WSU has significantly cut down on its traveling party for away games. The typical road trip last season would see more than 50 people travel to away games on the team’s chartered plane. This season, WSU has tried to create a “bubble” of just under 30 people who travel regularly with the team — essential personnel that can include up to 16 players, eight staff members, team managers, sports information director Bryan Holmgren, trainer Todd Fagan and strength and conditioning coach Kerry Rosenboom.

In a normal season, WSU would take a chartered flight the day before the game, check into the hotel and go out to a nice restaurant for a team meal. The team no longer leaves their hotel for meals this season, Okon said.

“We either have meals delivered and we eat the hotel or sometimes we’ve had food catered in, so everybody stays at the hotel and can take it to their room,” Okon said. “We try to minimize our exposure as much as we can.”

Since travel in general has dwindled during the pandemic, Okon said most hotels WSU stays at are at less than 25% capacity. Okon said hotels have been easy to work with to reserve ballrooms for WSU to watch film in and eat team meals in. According to Okon, hotels typically rope off the area so the general public cannot come close.

The South Dakota trip taught Okon another new thing he has to do on every road trip: reserve extra rooms in case someone tests positive upon arrival and they need to quarantine until WSU can figure out travel back home.

Now that Brown is the head coach, he has a better appreciation for just how many details Okon takes care of for the team when WSU travels.

“Coach Okon does a tremendous job of keeping everything organized and giving us an itinerary to follow,” Brown said. “Before we get on the airplane or the bus, he’s always got us organized on where guys are going to sit. Whenever we get to the hotel, he’s already got our keys prepared so we don’t have to wait. For the meals, he’s always talking to guys to know what certain foods they want to eat. He takes care of all of the details and that helps us out on the road.”

Wichita State at Central Florida

Records: WSU 11-4, 7-2 AAC; UCF 5-9, 3-8 AAC

When: 6 p.m. Wednesday

Where: Addition Financial Arena, Orlando, Florida

Streaming: ESPN+

Radio: KEYN, 103.7-FM

Series: WSU leads 6-0 (2-0 in Orlando)

Projected starting lineups

Coach: Isaac Brown, first season, 11-4

Coach: Johnny Dawkins, fifth season, 88-57

This story was originally published February 9, 2021 at 6:18 AM.

Taylor Eldridge

The Wichita Eagle

316-268-6270

Wichita State athletics beat reporter. Bringing you closer to the Shockers you love and inside the sports you love to watch.