St. John's-DePaul game postponed by COVID-19 issue
St. John's head coach Mike Anderson talks to his players during a timeout against Stony Brook in a non-conference men's basketball game at Carnesecca Arena on Dec. 6. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
The St. John’s men’s basketball team’s matchup with Depaul was postponed less than an hour before the noon tipoff Saturday due to a COVID-19 issue within the Red Storm program.
The Big East conference matchup will be rescheduled for a later date.
"While we're obviously disappointed at not being able to play today, postponing the game is unequivocally the right thing to do," athletic director Mike Cragg said in a statement. "The health and safety of our student-athletes, coaches and staff has always been our top priority and we saw no reason to take any unnecessary risk. We thank Coach (Dave) Leitao, the DePaul administration and the Big East Conference for their cooperation."
DePaul traveled to Carnesecca Arena and took the floor for warmups, before being told they had to leave and the game was postponed.
St. John’s became the second New York/Long Island program with a COVID issue in the last four days. Stony Brook announced a two-week pause for its mens and women’s basketball teams Wednesday, forcing four postponements.
This is the sixth cancelation or postponement for St. John’s this season. The Red Storm had their Wednesday matchup with Villonova postponed as well, due to non-COVID reasons.
St. John’s (6-4, 1-3) defeated Georgetown, 94-83, Dec. 20 in its last contest.
The Red Storm are scheduled to play at Xavier on Wednesday at 8 p.m. It's currently unknown if that game is in jeopardy.
