Michigan’s game vs. Purdue postponed due to Wolverines’ COVID-19 outbreak
The Michigan men’s basketball team’s matchup against No. 3 Purdue, originally scheduled for Tuesday night, has been postponed due to a COVID-19 outbreak within the Wolverines’ program, per release.
The news comes on the heels of Saturday’s postponement against No. 10 Michigan State. Michigan has been dealing with COVID-19 issues since returning from a Dec. 30 loss to Central Florida. Brandon Johns Jr., Terrance Williams, Frankie Collins and Jaron Faulds all missed Tuesday’s loss to Rutgers due to COVID-19 protocols, while video coordinator Jaaron Simmons was also unavailable.
According to a program spokesperson, two of the Wolverines’ four ill players had cleared COVID-19 protocols since returning from Piscataway. As of Friday morning, Michigan still hoped to play the Spartans on Saturday. But during Friday night’s medical testing, the Wolverines fell below the Big Ten’s roster minimum of seven available scholarship players.
As a result, the game was officially postponed on Saturday morning. Now, Michigan’s contest against the Boilermakers has suffered the same fate as the program battles its COVID-19 outbreak.
“We haven’t been good to go 100 percent,” Howard said Friday. “We’ve just been figuring out ways to navigate through what we’ve been dealt with, with COVID and COVID protocols. We’re trying to stay afloat and stay ready. Each day by day, we’ll continue working to try to get to that point. But I’ll be honest with you, it’s frustrating. It’s frustrating for us all in the sports world and non-sports world.”
Under the Big Ten’s new forfeiture policy, games will be rescheduled if a team doesn’t have at least one coach and seven healthy scholarship players available. Whereas those contests were previously set to become forfeits, they will now either be rescheduled or considered a no-contest if an alternative date isn’t possible, provided the affected team is able to show why it could not meet the conference’s safety threshold.
Michigan’s games against Michigan State and Purdue were announced as postponements rather than forfeitures. Though finding a date to make up the games could prove challenging later in the season, the schools will work with the conference office to try.
At the earliest, the Wolverines could return to scheduled action on Friday at Illinois.
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