DENVER — The men’s basketball contest between NM State and Lamar University that was scheduled for Jan. 6 in Beaumont has been canceled and will not be rescheduled.
The decision was made by LU due to lack of player availability. As a result, NM State will receive a forfeit win and LU will receive a forfeit loss towards seeding at the 2022 Hercules Tires WAC Basketball Tournament. Per NCAA guidelines, the game will be a no contest for NET rankings.
Thursday morning Lamar Director of Athletics Marco Born gave more details on the decision.
"After the Sam Houston game we dropped down to seven healthy. We had an individual test positive on Friday. And subsequently we had three other student athletes that were at high risk exposure. So we were below the seven number for the Stephen F. game. That's why we canceled it, rescheduled it. And then those guys never really tested positive for COVID they were just sick. And that kept us at that six number for the game today, on Thursday with New Mexico State. It not being COVID related, as crazy as that sounds, we didn't feel like it was safe for them to play in the best interest of our student athletes and with student athlete welfare coming first."