Louisville’s basketball shutdown forces postponement of ACC-Big Ten Challenge game
The University of Louisville men’s basketball team has had to call off its second game because of a positive COVID-19 test in the program last week.
The Cardinals’ game at Wisconsin in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge scheduled for Wednesday night has been postponed. Last Friday, U of L canceled its game against UNC Greensboro.
“Our men’s basketball program is still paused indefinitely and we will look for an alternate opportunity to play Wisconsin if possible,” Louisville Vice President/Director of Athletics Vince Tyra said in a news release Monday. “We will continue to communicate regularly with Wisconsin, the ACC and Big Ten.”
Louisville paused all men’s basketball team-related activities indefinitely last Thursday.
The pause in activities followed a positive test, subsequent quarantining, and contact tracing within the Cardinals’ “Tier 1” individuals, which consists of student-athletes, coaches, team managers and staff.
The positive result was detected during the team’s Thursday COVID-19 testing, which is conducted three times per week in accordance with ACC protocols.
Louisville is off to a 4-0 start this season and ranked No. 25 in the nation after victories over Evansville, Seton Hall, Prairie View A&M and Western Kentucky in its most recent game on Dec. 1.
Louisville is not scheduled to play again until Dec. 16 when the Cardinals host North Carolina State. The Wolfpack was forced to suspend men’s basketball activities indefinitely as well after a positive test in their program last Friday.
After that, Louisville is scheduled to visit Pittsburgh on Dec. 22.
The Cardinals’ annual rivalry game against Kentucky is scheduled for Dec. 26 at noon at the KFC Yum Center.
Louisville investigation
The latest turn of the screw in Louisville’s men’s basketball scandal took place Monday when the NCAA’s response to U of L’s internal investigation became public.
The NCAA largely rejected the school’s claims that it was a victim of a scheme allegedly created by executives of Adidas and others to pay college players to attend particular universities, according to multiple media accounts.
Louisville now must await an NCAA hearing that will decide a probable punishment.
The scandal resulted from an FBI investigation into college basketball recruiting practices in 2017 and ultimately forced out head coach Rick Pitino and Athletics Director Tom Jurich.
The case includes one Level I (most severe) and three Level II allegations against Louisville. In addition, two former assistant coaches are accused of Level I violations for allegedly failing to cooperate with the investigation after they left U of L.
This story was originally published December 7, 2020 at 1:59 PM.