Miami basketball at UNC cancelled after Tar Heels partied without masks
The Miami basketball game at North Carolina has been canceled for Monday night without a makeup date. Miami and North Carolina were scheduled to play at 7 PM ET on Monday night in a game that was going to be televised on ESPN. Officials from both schools mutually agreed the game could not be played.
Michelle Kaufman of the Miami Herald reported about 75 minutes before the originally scheduled tipoff that Hurricanes head coach Jim Larranaga was made aware of a video on social media of North Carolina players celebrating their victory over Duke on Saturday night at about 1 AM Sunday morning without masks at a party.
With the lack of discretion from the North Carolina players less than 48 hours before the Hurricanes and Tar Heels were scheduled to tipoff, a mutual decision was made to postpone the game. Kaufman spoke with Larranaga by phone late on Monday afternoon and quoted him regarding the decision process.
Miami has had a strapped roster all season because of injuries. The Hurricanes have been playing with seven scholarship players recently. The ACC issued a statement on Monday stating that both teams are adhering to protocols due to the ACC Advisory Group. News reports have now proven that to be untrue.
The reason that the Miami-UNC game has been postponed is because a video surfaced after the Tar Heels win over Duke in which Day’Ron Sharpe and Armando Bacot were partying without masks, source told @Stadium. Miami wasn’t comfortable playing the game.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) February 8, 2021
"“There was a video that was out there with several of their players without masks at a party at 1 a.m. Sunday morning, which is less than 48 hours from our game…Our president [Julio] Frenk is adamant that student-athletes are allowed to compete, but they’ve got to stay safe, social distance.Our guys have done a fantastic job. We have not had a single guy test positive and they were all unanimous that this isn’t right. We have been quarantining, hibernating, whatever you want to call it, and we don’t want to put ourselves in a position (to get the virus).We came to a decision that it’s better to postpone the game.”"
The Miami roster has been decimated by injuries this season, but have not had any players reported to have miss games due to COVID-19. The announcement that the game would not be played on Monday night came less than two hours before tipoff via the @CanesHoops Twitter account.
The full statement that the game would not be played is available via MiamiHurricanes.Com and the official ACC website. Kaufman reported that North Carolina students partied in the streets as tradition following victories over Duke. Fans also partied in Tampa following the Buccaneers Super Bowl victory on Sunday.
Tonight’s game at North Carolina has been postponed following a meeting of personnel from both schools, who mutually concluded the game could not move forward today.https://t.co/UXsvfrzfS6
— Canes Men’s Basketball (@CanesHoops) February 8, 2021
The Miami basketball team will now likely have eight days off before they are scheduled to Notre Dame on Sunday. North Carolina is next scheduled to play on Saturday at Virginia. The Hurricanes and Tar Heels could conceivably play later this week, but expect the game to be moved to later this month or early March.
Next. Miami basketball losses to VA Tech after key missed call late. dark
Miami is off until February 20 after playing Notre Dame on Sunday. North Carolina hosts Virginia Tech on February 16 after playing Virginia on Saturday. The Tar Heels do not have as big of a gap between games as Miami does following its game at Notre Dame. How the ACC proceeds will evolve over the next few days.