Throughout the years in college basketball, we’ve seen delays for plenty of things. Bats in the arena, water on the court, bad weather leading to traffic jams, the list goes on and on.
It’s rare to add a new item to that list, but it happened Saturday night when the start of the game between the Oregon Ducks and UCLA Bruins at Pauley Pavilion was delayed for nearly a half hour thanks to President Joe Biden’s motorcade shutting down traffic.
Biden was staying at the same hotel as the Ducks, near UCLA’s campus.
ESPN’s Roxy Bernstein, who was on play-by-play for the game, provided updates on the situation as it unfolded.
So this is a first…we are less than an hour from tip and @OregonMBB is not here at Pauley Pavilion. They are stuck at their hotel and not moving because of Presidential motorcade.
— Roxy Bernstein (@roxybernstein) February 4, 2024
“So this is a first…we are less than an hour from tip and Oregon is not here at Pauley Pavilion. They are stuck at their hotel and not moving because of Presidential motorcade,” Bernstein posted to his Twitter/X account.
Bernstein followed up shortly later with another post showing that Oregon still hadn’t arrived, and the motorcade was also preventing fans from getting to the arena, as shown by the large sections of empty seats.
We’re here!!!
But visiting team isn’t and we are half hour until tip. Plus a lot of crowd can’t get here because of Presidential motorcade https://t.co/1OmpK2j1Sj pic.twitter.com/AZpjuJ2GJk
— Roxy Bernstein (@roxybernstein) February 4, 2024
Oregon finally showed up with 29 minutes to go until tip. The game was delayed for about 25 minutes before finally getting underway. Whether a result of the delay or not, Oregon couldn’t get the job done, as the Ducks fell 71-63 to the Bruins.
