South Carolina’s showdown with No. 19 Tennessee pushed back. Here are the details
South Carolina’s Tuesday night game at No. 19 Tennessee has been pushed back to Wednesday due to a positive COVID-19 test and contact tracing within the Vols’ program, the SEC announced Monday.
The game will tip off at 9 p.m. Wednesday on SEC Network.
Much like the Gamecocks (5-9, 3-7 SEC), the Volunteers (14-5, 7-5) paused activities early in the season, canceling their first four games after head coach Rick Barnes and others within the program tested positive for the virus. However, Tennessee had only postponed one SEC game — Jan. 12 at Vanderbilt — this season before Monday’s announcement.
The Vols are coming off a road loss at LSU, while the Gamecocks lost their third straight home game Saturday against Ole Miss.
After three separate COVID-19 pauses in December and January, the Gamecocks had been able to play nine consecutive games without a postponement — by far the longest stretch of games USC has played this season.
The Gamecocks first shut down following a Dec. 5 road game at Houston. Both Houston and USC announced positive COVID-19 tests days after that contest.
In the time since, the Gamecocks have lost veteran big man Alanzo Frink for the season, and head coach Frank Martin tested positive for the virus for a second time.
Despite the stop-and-start nature of the season, the Gamecocks have insisted they want to keep playing.
This story was originally published February 15, 2021 at 7:10 PM.
