Seton Hall Hoops Cancels Sat. Game Due To COVID Within Program

EAST ORANGE, N.J. —The Seton Hall men's basketball team announced Thursday that its Saturday game against Iona at New York's Madison Square Garden has been canceled due to COVID-19 protocols within the Pirates program.

Ranked No. 16 in this week's Associated Press Top 25, Seton Hall (9-1) is scheduled to open Big East play against St. John's at 8:30 p.m. Monday at the Prudential Center, before traveling to DePaul on Thursday. The school said the status of those games will be determined at a later date.

The Pirates joined several other high-profile teams who recently have paused basketball activities because of COVID outbreaks, including: Syracuse, Ohio State, Penn State, UCLA and DePaul, according to Jeff Goodman, basketball analyst for WatchStadium.com.

Seton Hall had been scheduled to face head coach Rick Pitino's Iona Gaels in the second game of Saturday's Gotham Classic doubleheader, after the St. John's/Pittsburgh opener. As of Friday afternoon, the first game is still scheduled to be played.

After the Seton Hall/Iona cancellation Thursday, Pitino took to Twitter looking for an opponent for his team for Saturday.

"Short notice, but anyone out there interested in playing us at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday in the world's most famous arena?" Pitino wrote.

However, on Friday, Pitino said on Twitter that he had been unable to find another opponent, and he wished the Seton Hall players a speedy recovery.

"We have exhausted all possibilities to play a game. Hoping our friends at Seton Hall get healthy soon. We will move that game until next year. Will try and book a game Dec. 27th or 28th. This nightmare won't go away!"

Meanwhile, the Pirates still don't know what the consequences might be if they are unable to play their Monday and/or Thursday Big East games.

In addition to their COVID-positive and quarantining players, the Pirates also have been without injured players Ike Obiagu (ankle) and Brandon Weston (knee) recently, according to the New York Post.

The Asbury Press reported that according to National Association of Basketball Coaches guidelines, teams must have a minimum of seven non-quarantined, uninjured scholarship players to compete in a game.

But unlike last year, when the Big East Conference made an effort to make up games canceled for COVID, the conference has implemented a new policy this season, which, according to Big East.com, reads:

"Under the new policy, if a conference game cannot be played on its originally scheduled date because one team is unable to begin or complete the game due to an insufficient number of players, including as a result of COVID-19, that team will have forfeited the game, with a loss assigned to that team in the conference standings. A win will be assigned to its opponent.

"Additionally, if a conference game cannot be played on its original date because both teams are unable to begin or complete a game due to an insufficient number of players, including as a result of COVID-19, both teams shall be assigned forfeits, which will be applied to the conference standings."

The Pirates' Thursday opponent, DePaul, also is going through a COVID shutdown.

According to the Seton Hall Athletic Department, students who purchased tickets to Saturday's game through the Seton Hall box office will receive a refund. If students paid in cash, they must visit the box office in person to receive this refund. If students paid by credit card, refunds will be processed in the coming days.

Fans who purchased tickets through Ticketmaster.com should review the Ticketmaster refund policy.