Tribe pausing activities after positive virus test
Players, coaches to quarantine for 14 days; team did not travel to play North Carolina State
The William & Mary men’s basketball program announced Monday it is pausing team activities in the wake of a positive COVID-19 test.
The Tribe was notified of the positive result Sunday, the day after it opened its season with an 86-78 loss at Old Dominion. The positive test is to one of the team’s “Tier 1 personnel,” according to a release, meaning that it is a player, coach, athletic trainer or someone else close to the program, according to a W&M release.
All Tier 1 program personnel will quarantine for 14 days. That means the Tribe did not travel to face North Carolina State on Monday. In addition, the game at home on Thursday against Hampton — as well as games at George Washington on Saturday, at Norfolk State on Dec. 9 and at Virginia on Dec. 12 — will not be played as scheduled.
“The health and safety of our student-athletes, staff and community will always be the priority,” W&M interim athletic director Jeremy Martin said. “We will continue to work closely with university leadership and our medical personnel to ensure we are maintaining the safest possible environment for all involved.”
With William & Mary’s positive test, Old Dominion is continuing to take precautions,
but isn’t planning to suspend basketball activities.
“We have no reason to believe we won’t play Wednesday evening at NSU,” Old Dominion athletic director Wood Selig said. “We are taking all the proper contact-tracing precautions, and at this point we have no reason to believe our game Wednesday will be impacted.”
The Tribe’s first scheduled game following quarantine is Dec. 15 at Hampton. However, that is just one day after the Tribe will be allowed to resume practice again if no other positive tests emerge, so it remains to be seen if the team will be ready to play.
“We will diligently follow the guidelines set forth in order to ensure the health and safety of the members of our program and community, and look forward to returning to the court when it is considered safe to do so,” Tribe coach Dane Fischer said.
No determination has been made yet whether any of the four games affected by the quarantine will be rescheduled. A Dec. 22 game against Fairfield had already been canceled because that team did not want to travel to Williamsburg during the pandemic.
A W&M spokesperson said Monday that the Tribe women, whose basketball activities are separate from the men’s, have not been affected. Their season-opening game at Old Dominion on Thursday is currently slated to be played as scheduled.
The men’s basketball pause marks the second time in less than two months the W&M athletic program has been significantly affected by the coronavirus. In early October, all athletic activities were paused when 12 people associated with W&M athletics tested positive.
The pause lasted several days while all athletes and staff were tested. It is not clear whether Tribe head football coach Mike London was one of those to test positive at that time, but weeks later he acknowledged that he had tested positive for COVID-19.