The America East Conference is doing what it can to adapt and move forward, changing the way it sets up men’s and women’s basketball games by releasing schedules in two-week increments for the rest of the season.

The change was made in order to maximize scheduling flexibility in light of COVID-19 issues, and it is needed. On Tuesday, the University at Albany men’s basketball team was the latest program to halt activities. It has been placed on a temporary pause following a presumptive positive COVID-19 test within the team’s Tier 1 personnel. The length of the pause will be determined pending additional test results and contact tracing.

All teams at the University of Maine, including the basketball teams which are America East members, will not play any games until at least Feb. 4.

“At this time, there are positive COVID-19 cases in UMaine Athletics, and all health and safety protocols are in place, including contract tracing, quarantining and isolating,” UMaine said in a statement Monday. “To protect the privacy of student-athletics and employees, no details will be released.”

UMaine said its teams will continue to prepare for upcoming games. Testing for the programs continues for all Tier I personnel, which includes student-athletes, coaches and support staff. The basketball teams are next scheduled to play on Feb. 6-7 against UMass-Lowell, the men’s team on the road and the women at home.

Last week, members of the University of Vermont’s women’s basketball team decided not to continue their season and opted out.

Advertisement

UCONN: UConn says it has postponed its next two men’s basketball games, including Thursday’s scheduled contest with No. 3 Villanova after learning that an official who worked its Tuesday night win over Butler has tested positive for the coronavirus.

The Huskies have been placed in a daily testing protocol and a modified quarantine that also will prevent them from traveling to New York for a game at St. John’s on Sunday. The school says it won’t play another game until it is deemed safe by medical professionals and other postponements are possible.

These will be the ninth and 10th games on the Huskies schedule that have been either postponed or cancelled because of concerns related to the novel coronavirus.

(2) BAYLOR 107, KANSAS STATE 59: Davion Mitchell made seven 3-pointers in scoring a career-high 31 points, MaCio Teague added 18 points and host Baylor (15-0, 8-0 Big 12) got another lopsided victory over Kansas State (5-12, 1-8).

After last month becoming the first opponent since 1992 to score 100 points at Kansas State in a 31-point victory, the Bears jumped to a 31-point lead in the first 11 1/2 minutes in the rematch.

(13) OHIO STATE 83, PENN STATE 79: E.J. Liddell scored 22 points, including the tie-breaking free throws with 59.7 seconds left, and host Ohio State (13-4, 7-4 Big Ten) held off Penn State (5-7, 2-6).

Advertisement

The Buckeyes squandered a 12-point first-half lead but rallied from a seven-point deficit in the second for their second consecutive victory and fourth in five games.

(14) WISCONSIN 61, MARYLAND 55: Micah Potter had 23 points and 12 rebounds and visiting Wisconsin (13-4, 7-3 Big Ten) slipped past Maryland (9-8, 3-7) after blowing most of an 18-point halftime lead.

(16) FLORIDA STATE 81, MIAMI 59: Malik Osborne had 11 points and 10 rebounds, RaiQuan Gray added 10 points and 11 rebounds and host Florida State (10-2, 6-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) routed Miami (6-9, 2-8) for its fifth straight victory.

(17) CREIGHTON 85, SETON HALL 81: Mitch Ballock hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 41 seconds to play to cap a season-high 29-point performance and visiting Creighton (12-4, 8-3 Big East) overcame a 16-point second-half deficit to beat Seton Hall (9-7, 6-4).

Marcus Zegarowski added 18 points, and the Bluejays used a 14-2 run over the final 2:57 to steal one from Seton Hall.

(20) VIRGINIA TECH 62, NOTRE DAME 51: Nahiem Alleyne led four players in double figures with 15 points and visiting Virginian Tech (12-3, 6-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) rebounded from its previous road loss to control cold-shooting Notre Dame (5-9, 2-6).

Advertisement

Keve Aluma and Justyn Mutts had 14 points each and reserve Hunter Cattoor scored 13 for the Hokies, who were coming off a 78-60 loss last Saturday at Syracuse.

Prentiss Hubb scored 22 points to lead the Fighting Irish. He scored just five points after intermission as the Irish, who shot 32% in the first half, finished at 36% for the game.

CLEMSON 54, (25) LOUISVILLE 50: Aamir Simms had 16 points, Al-Amir Dawes added 15 and host Clemson (10-4, 4-4 Atlantic Coast Conference) turned up the defense to beat Louisville (10-4, 5-3), breaking a three-game losing streak .

FOOTBALL

TENNESSEE: Josh Heupel was hired as Tennessee football coach, giving the Vols a package deal with his athletic director, who was hired only six days ago himself.

Athletic Director Danny White announced he has hired Heupel as Tennessee’s 27th head coach. He’s now the Vols’ fifth different head coach, not counting interim or acting coaches, since the end of the 2008 season.

Advertisement

White said they looked at a number of candidates before coming to Heupel, someone he has worked with the past three years. White said Heupel wins with integrity, has a history of winning titles and is an architect of explosive offenses.

“He is a players’ coach and the kind of person the student-athletes go the extra mile for,” White said in a statement. “I saw that first-hand, and you can see it in his coaching record.”

Heupel was 28-8 in three seasons at UCF, where White hired him to replace Scott Frost after the Knights went 13-0 in 2017. White signed Heupel to a one-year extension in December 2018 that kept him under contract through the 2023 season.

NORTHWESTERN: Northwestern and Coach Pat Fitzgerald agreed to a new contract through the 2030 season.

The 46-year-old Fitzgerald is by far the program’s winningest coach with a 106-81 record since he took over at his alma mater in 2006 following Randy Walker’s unexpected death. The Wildcats have played in 10 bowl games during his tenure and won five. Northwestern captured its second Big Ten West championship in three years and beat Auburn in the Citrus Bowl last season.

Fitzgerald was under contract through 2026.

Related Headlines


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.