Another NC basketball team joins Duke in exiting conference tournament due to COVID
On the same day Duke ended its season due to COVID-19, another North Carolina college basketball program is also out of the postseason due to the virus.
The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference announced Thursday that N.C. A&T was dropping out of the postseason tournament because of a positive COVID-19 case within its men’s basketball program.
The Aggies (11-10) won the MEAC Southern Division this season with a 7-1 league record. They were to play in the MEAC tournament semifinals Friday in Norfolk, Virginia, against the winner of Thursday night’s Norfolk State-N.C. Central game.
Instead, Norfolk State (15-7) advanced from the quarterfinals to Saturday’s championship game after beating NCCU 87-58.
“Obviously, we are tremendously disappointed for the student-athletes, coaches, staff and fans for North Carolina A&T State,” MEAC Commissioner Dennis E. Thomas said in a statement. “They worked extremely hard to get to where they are and to have to end (the season) this way is extremely unfortunate. But that’s the world we live in today and hopefully, we will have no other positives moving forward for the basketball tournament.”
Earlier Thursday, Duke announced it was ending its season due to a player testing positive for COVID-19. The Blue Devils were to play in the ACC tournament semifinals on Thursday night against Florida State. Instead, Duke (13-11) decided it couldn’t play due to players being unavailable due to the positive test and contact tracing.
N.C. A&T was seeking its first NCAA tournament berth since 2013.
This story was originally published March 11, 2021 at 7:42 PM.