A two-game series between the Montana and Montana State men’s basketball teams has been canceled due to COVID-19 concerns according to a source with direct knowledge of the situation.
It was not immediately clear which school had a positive test, or if it was due to contract tracing.
Whether or not the games will be end up being played at all is us up in the air, as canceled Big Sky Conference games have not all been rescheduled this season. It will be the first time since 1960 the two schools have not played a men’s basketball game.
Thursday’s game was set to tip off at 7 p.m. in Missoula, while Saturday’s was to be played at 2 p.m. in Bozeman. It was one of two two-game series that are split to be home and away along with Eastern Washington. This was due to short travel times between Missoula and both Bozeman and Cheney, Washington.
Montana had scheduled a Zoom press conference for 9:45 a.m. on Wednesday that was abruptly canceled 15 minutes before it was scheduled to start. SWX sent out an email to employees around 11 a.m. that the games were off.
The game was to be the 302nd and 303rd between the two schools since the first meeting in the 1902-03 season. Only four other series in NCAA basketball history have been played 300 or more times.
Montana State is undefeated at 6-0 in Big Sky Conference play and has a 9-3 record overall. Montana is 7-8 and 3-5 in league play.
These are the third and fourth games canceled for the Bobcats this year — Montana State also had a two games against Southern Utah called off due to COVID-19 concerns — while Montana had played all of its scheduled games up to this point.
The Montana-Montana State women’s basketball two-game series is still set to be played on Thursday in Bozeman at 5 p.m. and on Saturday at noon in Missoula.
This story will be updated. Via www.406mtsports.com