San Diego State University announces that it will be postponing this weekend's basketball game due to COVID-19.
On Tuesday, the university's basketball team says it will not partake in Saturday's match-up against New Mexico, and will most likely postpone game after this weekend as well.
The news became official today after the the whole basketball team was tested on Monday, resulting in enough quarantined players with positive tests to not meet the Mountain West minimum, which is seven according to the conference.
Up until this week, the SDSU men's basketball program was the last remaining collective unit to not shut down its season due to COVID-19.
However, SDSU coach Brian Dutcher said earlier this week that they never got too confident to believe that it would not happen to them at no point in the future.
“We tested today,” Coach Dutcher said on Monday. “We’re not immune to it. Hopefully we continue to stay healthy. If we’re healthy, then we’ll see what the Mountain West has in store for us. We know we go to New Mexico on Saturday. If there’s a game between then and now, I can’t answer that right now. I think a lot has to do with how we progress through testing today.”
The coach was right with his statement from Monday, as he received the news the next morning involving the positive cases within the Aztecs locker-room. A list of players that tested positive has not been released publicly.
The 10 day quarantine that would have started Monday, testing day, would last until the 20th of January. This would mean that the team could potentially miss out on next week's home game against University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The players would have to receive medical clearances after quarantine before returning to full practice sessions days after.
Two days after on January 22nd, SDSU is expected to face off against Boise St at home, which could possibly be another game that doesn't go underway unless the school reduces the team's isolation period.
