According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament in Nashville has been canceled while the Sun Belt Conference also announced that they will cancel the men’s and women’s conference championships .
The LSU Tigers men’s basketball team was scheduled to play either South Carolina or Arkansas Friday night.
The Sun Belt Conference initially announced on Thursday morning the 2020 Sun Belt Men’s and Women’s Championship semifinal and title games scheduled for March 14-15 at the Smoothie King Center will be conducted “with only student-athletes, coaches, essential staff, officials, broadcast network staffs, credentialed media and limited immediate family members of the participating teams present.”
However, the conference released the following statement:
“After further discussion with the Presidents and Chancellors and Directors of Athletics and mounting concerns surrounding the coronavirus (COVID-19), the Sun Belt Conference has decided to cancel the remaining games of the 2020 Sun Belt Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships scheduled for March 14-15 at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans.”
The University of Louisiana women’s basketball team advanced to the Sun Belt Championships semifinal and they were scheduled to play Troy on Saturday at 5 p.m.
The news comes one day after NCAA president Mark Emmert released a statement that the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments will also have limited attendance.