Jayhawks have a positive COVID-19 case, withdraw from Big 12 tournament

KU’s basketball team withdrew from the Big 12 tournament early March 12 after a player on the team tested positive for COVID-19 Friday morning. The positive case comes from a member who played in KU’s Thursday game against Oklahoma according to Matt Norlander, who broke the news. 

The team was set to play Texas in the semifinals today at 8:30 p.m. Instead, Texas will be moving on to the finals against the winner of the Oklahoma State-Baylor game on Saturday. This is not the first COVID-19 complication for the Jayhawks. The team’s starting center David McCormack and reserve player Tristan Enauruna were removed from the Big 12 tournament before the team left for Kansas City because of COVID-19 protocols. 

“Obviously we are disappointed and our players are disappointed that they can’t continue to compete for the Big 12 championship,” head coach Bill Self said in a statement. “While we have been fortunate to avoid this throughout the season, there are daily risks with this virus that everybody participating is trying to avoid. We have followed the daily testing and additional protocols that have been set up for us, unfortunately we caught a bad break at the wrong time. I look forward to preparing my team in probably a unique way for next week’s NCAA Tournament.”

KU will stay in Kansas City as they prepare for the NCAA tournament. McCormack and Enauruna will likely be available for the NCAA tournament, but this most recent positive test result further complicates the team’s eligibility. The NCAA tournament requires seven consecutive days of negative test results for Tier 1 personnel before arrival in Indianapolis for the tournament. Testing has already begun. 

The Virginia Cavaliers also withdrew from the ACC tournament on Friday due to a positive test result, automatically sending Georgia Tech to the title game. On March 11, Duke’s season ended when they had to withdraw from the tournament after a member of their personnel tested positive for COVID-19.  

(This article has been updated to correct Virginia’s conference as the ACC.)