Detroit Mercy men's, women's basketball teams hit with COVID; upcoming games canceled
COVID-19 has hit the Detroit Mercy men's and women's basketball teams, cancelling a few upcoming games.
The Horizon League announced Wednesday that both teams' games scheduled for Thursday and Saturday have been canceled. The men's team was to host Youngstown State at Calihan Hall on Thursday and Robert Morris on Saturday. The women's team was slated to visit Green Bay on Thursday and Milwaukee at Saturday.
But that's where the similarities end. The Horizon League's policy is to considered canceled games a "no contest" when the teams :demonstrate that extraordinary circumstances led to the cancellation." And the surge of COVID-19 cases among the vaccinated has been deemed an extraordinary circumstance by the league.
The Horizon League also said both UDM teams have had positive COVID cases. But, the men's games that are canceled are considered no contests because of breakthrough cases among the players.
However, the league did not consider the UDM women's team's games a no contest because "circumstances did not meet the extraordinary threshold." So, those two games have been ruled forfeits by the Titans.
In the news release, the Illinois-Chicago women's basketball team's next two games have been canceled for the same reason as the UDM men's team and also have two "no contests" to their record.
The UDM men's team (4-7) is next scheduled to host in-state rival Oakland on Jan. 5. Star guard Antoine Davis 36 points away from becoming the school's all-time leading scorer.
The Titans' women's team (0-13) is next scheduled to play at Cleveland State on Jan. 6.
Contact Kirkland Crawford: kcrawford@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @HiKirkHere.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Mercy basketball teams hit with COVID; games canceled
