BEAUMONT, Texas — Last week Lamar opened WAC play at Sam Houston with only eight players available due to COVID.
By the next day that number dropped to seven, leading to the Cardinals game at Stephen F. Austin being postponed.
And things aren't getting any better.
In all, ten players have been dealing with COVID in the last week, decimating Lamar's roster.
Head Coach Alvin Brooks said Tuesday afternoon he is down to just six players available for practice.
The WAC requires a basketball team to have seven players to participate in a game.
Meaning Thursday night's contest against New Mexico State could be postponed.
If it was up to Brooks, his team wouldn't play.
"It's really frustrating, disappointing and the rules are the rules, but in my opinion we shouldn't be playing. Unless you have enough healthy bodies. We're talking about dividing two hundred minutes of college game time at the division one level amongst seven guys. Now if you have seven healthy bodies, you know you see that happens. You play with seven guys. Maybe have nine or ten on your bench. But that's frustrating, cause what you don't see. You'll see the game right? What you don't see is when we're preparing to play, how do you prepare seven guys for a game? So you have to have at least ten to practice five on five. And that's a challenge."
The Cardinals are scheduled to host New Mexico State Thursday night and Grand Canyon on Saturday.