Mizzou Tigers won’t play next men’s basketball game because of COVID-19 issues
Wednesday’s game between the Missouri men’s basketball team and Mississippi State at Mizzou Arena has been postponed because of COVID-19 issues within the Tigers’ program.
Mizzou has a “combination of positive tests, contact tracing and subsequent quarantining of individuals” that puts them under the SEC threshold of seven players and one countable coach.
Tigers coach Cuonzo Martin tested positive for COVID-19 last week, leaving assistant Cornell Mann to fill in as acting head coach for the Tigers’ SEC opening loss at Kentucky.
Martin said Monday night on his radio show that there were a few positive cases on the roster but it was mostly contact tracing that rendered his team ineligible for Wednesday’s game.
He is hopeful that the team will be able to play Saturday vs. No. 15 Alabama. That game is scheduled for a 2:30 p.m. tipoff in Mizzou Arena.
Martin said some players with positive tests were asymptomatic and should be out of protocols on Thursday. Six were able to practice together Monday and five players under contact tracing did individual skill work and conditioning.
Everyone on the team has been fully vaccinated, Martin said, but not all players have received a booster shot.
A makeup date for Wednesday’s men’s game hasn’t been determined. Tickets will be honored if the game is rescheduled and will be refunded if it isn’t, per a release.
The Missouri women’s basketball team was also on a pause. Its game scheduled for Sunday at Vanderbilt was postponed and rescheduled to Thursday, Jan. 20 at 7 p.m.
The next scheduled game for the women is against Auburn at 7 p.m. Thursday in Mizzou Arena.
This story was originally published January 3, 2022 at 12:10 PM.
