MADISON – Officials from the University of Wisconsin athletic department held an emergency meeting Tuesday night to discuss options for dealing with the growing coronavirus crisis.

UW athletic director Barry Alvarez shared that news during his monthly radio show Tuesday night on WIBA-AM (1310).

"There's a potential of closing the campus down," Alvarez said, explaining he had just received an email from deputy athletic director Chris McIntosh alerting him of the meeting of senior staff. "I'm not exactly sure."

It is possible UW officials could decide to limit attendance during events.

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The UW women’s hockey team is scheduled to host Clarkson in an NCAA quarterfinal game at 2 p.m. Saturday at LaBahn Arena. The game is a sellout.

It is unclear if spring sports will be affected, but several schools have decided to go to online classes only. That includes Ohio State University and UW-Milwaukee.

It also is unclear if any action taken by UW will affect the WIAA boys basketball tournament, which is scheduled to be played March 19-21 at the Kohl Center.

"This is serious business," Alvarez said. "We take our sports serious. But this is life and death.

"We’ve got to do what we have to do and just be aware of things, have our antennae up and do what’s right."

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