Gamecocks’ next men’s basketball game postponed for COVID-related reasons
South Carolina’s home men’s basketball game scheduled for Wednesday against S.C. State won’t be played because of COVID-19 issues.
USC issued this statement Monday afternoon: “Due to COVID-19 health and safety protocols, South Carolina and South Carolina State have agreed to postpone the scheduled Dec. 29 matchup between the two schools on the hardwood. A makeup date has not been determined at this time.”
The school statement did not specifically indicate if either team was dealing with COVID issues.
The next scheduled game for the Gamecocks (9-3) is the team’s SEC home opener Jan. 4 against Auburn.
Last season, the Gamecocks battled positive COVID-19 tests, shutting down three separate times and canceling the bulk of their non-conference slate in a 6-15 season.
This year, the Gamecocks were down four players at Clemson (Dec. 18) due to positive COVID-19 tests and returned two of those players for the game against Army (Dec. 22).
Head coach Frank Martin has said that all but two of the team’s players are vaccinated. Martin is vaccinated after contracting the virus twice last season.
The head coach said following the team’s win over Army that he expected the roster to be at full health by the SEC opener. James Reese, Wildens Leveque, Devin Carter and Josh Gray were the four players in the COVID protocol. Carter and Gray both returned to action against Army, but both Reese and Leveque remained away from the team.
Though neither South Carolina nor S.C. State indicated in their respective statements which school was dealing with COVID issues, Reese took to Twitter to voice displeasure with the postponement.
“These covid rules are ‘poo cheese,’” Reese tweeted late Monday afternoon.
Upcoming South Carolina basketball schedule
- Wednesday: vs. SC State -- POSTPONED
- Jan. 4: vs. Auburn, 6:30 p.m. (SEC Network)
- Jan. 8: at Vanderbilt, noon (ESPNU)
- Jan. 11: at Tennessee, 6:30 p.m. (SEC Network)
This story was originally published December 27, 2021 at 3:59 PM with the headline "Gamecocks’ next men’s basketball game postponed for COVID-related reasons."
