Gamecocks men’s basketball cancels Wednesday game, again pausing team activities
The South Carolina men’s basketball team has canceled Wednesday’s game against S.C. State as the Gamecocks continue to deal with COVID-19 issues.
“After South Carolina men’s basketball received (Monday’s) COVID-19 test results, Wednesday’s scheduled contest vs. South Carolina State has been canceled. The Gamecocks have paused all team activities until further test results are received,” the school released in a statement.
Head coach Frank Martin was scheduled to meet virtually with reporters Tuesday. That session was canceled.
The Gamecocks (1-2) haven’t played a game since a Dec. 5 road contest at Houston — a game that neither Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson nor assistant coach Kellen Sampson attended due to contact tracing protocols. Three days later, both the Cougars and the Gamecocks announced positive COVID-19 tests within their respective programs.
Since then, South Carolina has canceled a Dec. 10 home game against Wofford and a Dec. 14 road trip to George Washington. The Gamecocks postponed their Dec. 19 rivalry bout against Clemson. The team has yet to play a game at Colonial Life Arena in the 2020-21 season, and a makeup game against the Tigers has not yet been announced.
“All we know is that we got back from Houston, and Houston announced they had positive tests. And then our guys wanted to test,” head coach Frank Martin told reporters last week. “And so we had an additional test, and that’s when we found out that we had positives.”
The Gamecocks’ next scheduled game is their Southeastern Conference opener Dec. 29 against Kentucky.
Martin said last week the team was going to attempt to practice Saturday with eight players, with the rest of the roster aiming to return this week. Those eight players would only be allowed to practice at 50% of the intensity they normally practice with, Martin said, adding that he’d work with athletic trainer Mark Rodger to determine how far he can push the players.
Martin said he anticipated the team could practice at 100% of normal intensity Monday, with perhaps nine or 10 players available.
This story was originally published December 21, 2020 at 8:42 PM.