Wichita State’s basketball game postponed because of COVID-19 issues at East Carolina
It must have felt like déjà vu for the Wichita State men’s basketball team following its shootaround on Wednesday afternoon at Minges Coliseum in Greenville, North Carolina.
The Shockers were stunned to learn just hours before tip-off of what was scheduled to be their American Athletic Conference opener at East Carolina that COVID-19 issues within the ECU program had forced the game to be postponed.
It was a frustrating experience for WSU, which had cut short its Christmas break to return to Wichita to prepare for the game and had already traveled to one of the furthest destinations in the conference. Adding to the frustration was that both of WSU’s games against ECU last season were canceled due to COVID-19 issues on ECU’s end, not to mention the five other conference games WSU missed out on last season due to covid problems on the other side.
According to a source with knowledge of the situation, ECU received a handful of positive COVID-19 tests when it returned from holiday break but then fell below the threshold of seven available scholarship players on Wednesday due more players being deemed close contacts.
The AAC just updated its COVID-19 protocols on Monday, eliminating the penalty of a forfeit for teams who are unable to play the game with at least seven scholarship players and one coach and introducing the option to potentially reschedule the game, although there is no conference mandate to do so on WSU’s part. In a statement released on Wednesday, WSU athletic director Darron Boatright sounded open to that possibility.
“We have been in communication with ECU and the conference office throughout the day,” Boatright said in a statement. “We hate that these types of postponements continue to be a reality, but if we’re to push forward with an athletic season in the midst of a pandemic, we’re going to face challenges like this. We will work with ECU and the conference to find a makeup date that makes sense for both parties.”
Now anticipation grows even bigger for WSU’s new conference opener, a nationally-televised game broadcast on CBS from Koch Arena against Memphis at 11 a.m. on New Year’s Day on Saturday. Memphis is coming off of its own covid-related pause, although it appears slated to play in its conference-opener Wednesday night at Tulane.
This story was originally published December 29, 2021 at 2:23 PM.
.jpg)