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Tennessee basketball cancels Gonzaga, Notre Dame matchups

By Caleb Calhoun

FAYETTEVILLE, AR - JANUARY 15: Detail view of a basketball goes through the basketball net during warmups before a game between the Arkansas Razorbacks and the Vanderbilt Commodores at Bud Walton Arena on January 15, 2020 in Fayetteville, Arkansas. (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images)
FAYETTEVILLE, AR - JANUARY 15: Detail view of a basketball goes through the basketball net during warmups before a game between the Arkansas Razorbacks and the Vanderbilt Commodores at Bud Walton Arena on January 15, 2020 in Fayetteville, Arkansas. (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images) /
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The Tennessee basketball Volunteers have canceled two more games due to COVID.

One day after it was reported that a COVID outbreak infected many members of the me’s Tennessee basketball program, including Rick Barnes, and canceled the Vols’ first two games, more cancelations came Tuesday. This has been a trend for the athletic program early this week.

UTSports reported that Rocky Top has pulled out of the Dec. 2 Jimmy V Classic, when it would have faced the No. 1 ranked Gonzaga Bulldogs in Indianapolis. A tentative Dec. 4 road matchup with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish was also canceled.

This week’s Tennessee basketball matchups with the Charlotte 49ers on Wednesday and the VCU Rams on Friday, which were supposed to be part of an event called the Volunteer Classic, were already canceled. That means the Vols first four games have been canceled this year.

Because of that, the first matchup for Rocky top is now set for Dec. 12 against the Cincinnati Bearcats. That is one of only four non-conference games left on the schedule before SEC play begins, with the other three being the Appalachian State Mountaineers on Dec. 15, the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles on Dec. 19, the USC Upsate Spartans on Dec. 22.

A fifth non-conference game is set for Jan. 30 against the Kansas Jayhawks in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge. All of these games are scheduled to be played at Thompson-Boling Arena, assuming they do actually occur.

These cancelations mark the fifth and sixth games across three sports to be canceled this week. Although four of them were in men’s basketball, the Tennessee Lady Vols basketball program’s Friday opener with the Florida A&M Rattlers was canceled, and Tennessee footballs, Saturday matchup with the Vanderbilt Commodores has been postponed.

Both the football and women’s basketball cancelations had to do with outbreaks and decisions by other teams, though. When it comes to the men’s Tennessee basketball program, it’s how the outbreak affected them specifically.

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