Florida’s COVID-19 problems force postponement of Saturday’s men’s basketball game at LSU

UAA Communications photo by Tim Casey

The SEC announced Friday morning that Saturday’s Florida at LSU basketball game has been postponed due to a combination of positive COVID-19 tests, contact tracing and subsequent quarantining of individuals within the Florida basketball program.

A makeup date has not been determined at this time.

It’s the second time this year an LSU opponent didn’t meet the minimum COVID-19 protocols set forth by the SEC. The Tigers’ Jan. 9 game at Missouri was also canceled.

Currently, Florida is ranked No. 29 and Missouri is No. 31 in the NET (the NCAA evaluation tool) used by the NCAA tournament selection committee.

The Tigers, (11-6, 6-4 SEC), losers of their last four or five games, are 2-5 in Quad 1 wins (the most valuable type of win on a resume to earn an NCAA tourney at-large bid) this season. Quad 1 wins are defined as winning home games against teams in the top 30 of NET (the NCAA evaluation tool), neutral-site games against the top 50 and road games against the top 75.

If the games against Florida and Missouri aren’t re-scheduled, it will hurt the Tigers’ chances to strengthen their current No. 41 NET ranking.

Without Florida and Missouri, LSU has just six regular season SEC games remaining at Mississippi State (No. 84 NET ranking), home vs. Tennessee (No. 13) and Auburn (No. 63), at Georgia (No. 99) and at Arkansas (No. 30) and finally the regular season finale at home vs. Vanderbilt (No. 149).

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