INDIANAPOLIS — Less than 90-minutes before tipoff Saturday, the most anticipated game of the young men's college basketball season was canceled.
Top-ranked Gonzaga and number-two Baylor were scheduled to play before a national television audience at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, without fans in the stands.
But, according to a joint statements from the teams, the game was called off after one student-athlete and one non-student-athlete from Gonzaga tested positive for COVID-19.
The student-athlete did not play in Wednesday’s game between Gonzaga and West Virginia at Bankers Life.
Saturday's contest was canceled after consultation with the Indiana State Health Commissioner, the Marion County Public Health Director, and both team physicians, according to the statement.
Both teams have agreed to attempt to reschedule the game at a later date.
Baylor head coach Scott Drew and Gonzaga head coach Mark Few issued this joint statement:
“We’re disappointed to not be able to play one of the most-anticipated games of the season, but we are following the advice of public health officials. When we decided to play during a pandemic, our priorities were protecting the health and safety of student-athletes and following public health guidelines, and we’re proud of how both programs have held true to those promises.
There are much greater issues in this world than not being able to play a basketball game, so we’re going to continue praying for everyone who has been affected by this pandemic.”
Gonzaga, from Spokane, Washington and Baylor from Waco, Texas both played and won games in Indianapolis earlier this week. In all, three games involving Gonzaga, Baylor, Illinois, Kentucky, Kansas and West Virginia took place at the fieldhouse.
