No. 1 UConn’s season opener against No. 20 Louisville that was supposed to be played at Ramstein Air Base in Germany on Nov. 4 has been moved to the Naval Academy because of the government shutdown.
“We’re excited to have opportunity to play at the academy,” Louisville coach Jeff Walz told The Associated Press on Thursday night “It’s going to be a great experience for our players. Everyone was excited about going to Germany and playing at Ramstein, but we will make the best of this. We were going to head over to Germany a few days earlier and have a scavenger hunt in a castle on Halloween.”
Walz said his team was going to try and see some of the museums in the area and make the most of the trip to Annapolis.
“There’s so much history there that hopefully things are open for us to see,” Walz said.
ESPN made the call to move the game.
This was supposed to be the third time that the Armed Forces Classic was played at Ramstein and the first that featured two women’s basketball teams. The UConn men’s team played in the inaugural one in 2012. Texas A&M and West Virginia also played there in 2017.
The government shutdown began Oct. 1 when the Senate failed to advance a House-passed GOP government funding bill. The longest shutdown lasted 35 days in 2019. Military bases are operating at reduced levels with the shutdown.
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Doug Feinberg, The Associated Press
