College basketball lost a series of long-awaited clashes this weekend. The last games to be postponed include some high profile Big 12 competitions.
Kansas game 6 against Iowa State scheduled for Saturday was postponed on Friday due to COVID-19 testing and contact tracking on the Cyclones program, which will be paused.
Early Friday, the Oklahoma-Oklahoma State game scheduled for Saturday was postponed due to a positive test within the Oklahoma State program and subsequent contact tracking procedures that will drive the team out entirely until Wednesday, at least. OSU’s only game scheduled for the next eight days was Oklahoma tilt, while Oklahoma is still scheduled to play at Kansas State on Tuesday.
Elsewhere, Michigan’s efforts to get back on track, after a 2-4 match for the Big Ten game, met an obstacle after two players tested positive for COVID-19. After the game scheduled for Thursday in Iowa was postponed, it was also announced that Sunday’s clash with Indiana was also postponed.
Indiana and Michigan State are expected to work with the league to “identify options for rescheduling the competition,” according to an Indiana ad. For the state of Michigan, consecutive games postponed could mean that the program lasts 15 days between games, at a time when it tries to consolidate an identity in the most difficult conference in the country. The next game scheduled for the state of Michigan is January 23 against Illinois.
The Spartans rose to fourth place in the AP vote amid a 6-0 start, but have since fallen from the vote after losing four of six games to start the conference, including a 55-54 home loss to Purdue on Friday. Coach Tom Izzo said on Wednesday that players Steven Izzo and Mady Sissoko tested positive for COVID-19.
“I am very disappointed, but it just proves that it can affect anyone,” said Tom Izzo. “I feel so comfortable that I, my son and my players did everything possible and followed each protocol as best we could. I am very, very impressed with the way they behaved. This virus does not discriminate and I cannot emphasize enough the importance of wearing a mask, washing my hands and following the protocols. “
Upcoming notable postponements or cancellations
- January 16: Iowa State in Kansas
- January 16: Oklahoma in the state of Oklahoma
- January 16: Georgia Tech at NC State
- January 16: Georgetown in Providence
- January 16: Arizona in Oregon
- January 16: TCU in West Virginia
- January 16: Xavier in Seton Hall
- January 17: Wichita state at SMU
- January 17: Indiana in the state of Michigan
- January 19: State of Oklahoma in West Virginia
- January 20: Georgetown in Marquette
TEAMS WILL NOT COMPETE IN 2020-21
- Bethune-Cookman
- Maryland-Eastern Shore
- Chicago State (season suspended after the start of 0-9, citing the decision to “focus on the health, safety and academic activities of male basketball student-athletes”).
- Ivy League – Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Penn, Princeton and Yale
Notable previous postponements or cancellations
- November 25th: UTSA in Oklahoma
- November 25th: Virginia x Maine (Uncasville, Connecticut)
- November 25th: Central Arkansas on Ole Miss
- November 25th: Gardner-Webb at Duke – rescheduled for December 19, then canceled
- November 25th: Northern Arizona in Arizona
- November 25th to 27th: Creighton on Crossover Classic (Sioux Falls, South Dakota)
- November 25th to 27th: Texas A&M in Crossover Classic (Sioux Falls)
- November 25th: Western Illinois in DePaul
- November 25th: UMass Lowell vs. Florida
- November 25th: Stanford vs. Utah Valley
- November 25th: Drexel at Penn State
- November 26th: Baylor vs. Arizona State at Empire Classic (Uncasville)
- November 26th: Jackson State vs. Ole Miss
- November 27: Arkansas State on Ole Miss
- November 27; Baylor at Empire Classic (Uncasville)
- November 27: Virginia x Florida (Uncasville)
- November 27: Florida State vs. Gardner-Webb – rescheduled for December 21
- November 28th Oklahoma at UCF
- November 28th: Chicago State on DePaul
- November 29: Baylor at Seton Hall
- November 29: Gardner-Webb in Georgia
- 30th of November: Long Beach State at UCLA
- 30th of November: Belmont Abbey in Charlotte
- December 1: Towson in Maryland
- December 1: State of Alcorn in DePaul
- December 1: Vanderbilt vs. UConn (Uncasville)
- December 2: Colorado in Arizona – rescheduled for December 28
- December 3: Vanderbilt in Legends Classic (Uncasville)
- December 4: UNC Greensboro in Louisville
- December 4th: Florida A&M in South Florida
- December 5th: Gonzaga x Baylor (Indianapolis)
- December 5th: NC State vs. UConn: (Uncasville)
- December 5th: Alabama A&M in the state of Ohio
- December 5th: James Madison in Maryland
- December 5th: UT-Martin in Illinois
- December 5th: Purdue-Fort Wayne at Notre Dame
- December 5th: Ole Miss in Memphis
- December 6: Florida A&M in Nebraska
- December 6: DePaul in the state of Iowa
- December 8: Fordham in Saint John’s
- December 8: Tarleton State in Gonzaga
- December 9th: Louisville in Wisconsin
- December 9th: Michigan State in Virginia
- December 9th: NC State in Michigan
- December 9th: Robert Morris in West Virginia
- December 10: South in Gonzaga
- December 11: São João at UConn
- December 12: Xavier in Providence
- December 12: Northern Arizona in Gonzaga
- December 12: Charleston Southern in Duke
- December 12: Saint John’s at Texas Tech
- December 13: Stanford at USC
- December 13: SIU-Edwardsville in Northwestern
- December 13: Texas in Baylor
- December 13: William & Mary in Virginia
- December 13: UConn in Georgetown
- December 15th: Tarleton State in Baylor
- December 15th: Detroit in Kentucky
- December 15: Seton Hall in Xavier
- December 16: NC State in Louisville
- December 16: Northern Iowa in Wisconsin
- December 18: Xavier at DePaul
- December 17th: DePaul in Providence
- December 19: Virginia vs. Villanova (at Madison Square Garden)
- December 19: Gardner-Webb at Duke
- December 19: Houston in Alabama
- December 19: South Carolina in Clemson
- December 21: San Diego in Arizona
- December 22: Notre Dame in Syracuse
- December 22: VCU at LSU
- December 22: UNLV in Wyoming
- December 23: UCLA in Oregon
- December 23: State of South Carolina in South Carolina
- December 23: UConn in DePaul
- December 29: South Carolina in Kentucky
- December 30: Syracuse in Wake Forest
- December 31th: State of San Diego at UNLV
- January 2: North Carolina in Syracuse (rescheduled for January 12)
- January 2: DePaul at St. John’s
- January 2: State of Arizona in Washington
- January 2: Memphis at the Temple
- January 2: Virginia Tech in Virginia
- January 2: State of San Diego at UNLV
- January 3: Wisconsin in Penn State
- January 4: State of San Diego at UNLV
- January 5: Villanova in DePaul
- January 5: Memphis at UCF
- January 5: Nebraska in Purdue
- January 6: Georgia Tech in Notre Dame
- January 6: UMass in George Washington
- January 6: Penn State in Ohio
- January 6: Oregon State in Utah
- January 6: Temple in Tulane
- January 7th: Gonzaga x Santa Clara
- January 8: Villanova vs. Marquette
- January 9: Florida State in Pittsburgh
- January 9: Clemson in North Carolina
- January 9: South Carolina on Ole Miss
- January 9: Oregon State in Colorado
- January 9: LSU in Missouri
- January 9: Virginia Tech in Louisville
- January 9: Michigan at Penn State
- January 12: Clemson in Syracuse
- January 12th: West Virginia in Baylor
- January 12: Vanderbilt in Missouri
- January 12th: Tennessee on Vanderbilt
- January 12: Tennessee in South Carolina
- January 13: Illinois in Nebraska
- January 13: DePaul in Georgetown
- January 13: Iowa State in Kansas State
- January 13: Villanova in Xavier
- January 14: Michigan State in Iowa
- January 14: SMU in Memphis
- January 14: State of Arizona in Oregon
- January 14: Houston in South Florida