Syracuse men’s basketball games now postponed through Jan. 2

It looks like no Syracuse Orange men’s basketball games in the immediate future, as the program and ACC announced today that the Jan. 2 game at North Carolina has been postponed. Since Buffalo (last Saturday’s opponent) announced a positive COVID-19 test within the program, SU has suspended team activities and postponed three games — vs. Notre Dame, Wake Forest and now UNC.

Obviously the main concern here is that everyone stays safe and healthy, but this could become a huge issue as the year wears on. While no Syracuse men’s basketball player has tested positive since the season started, the widespread nature of virus at this point has led to two pauses, a Jim Boeheim positive test and Buddy Boeheim having to sit out for contact tracing protocols already.

Part of this is due to the rules the ACC and most conferences are putting on things, while others are more due to SU being in New York State. It’s hard to imagine there won’t be another issue of some sort as the regular season schedule continues. And now, the Orange potentially need to fit three more conference games into a stretch that was already far too condensed to work.

There’s been no indication of when the team can resume activities, but it’s probably not much before this UNC game. As long as everyone has negative tests, we might see Syracuse back in action on Jan. 6 vs. Florida State. But still a lot of time left before we know that game is definitely still on.

In the meantime, watch the women’s basketball team (because it’s Syracuse AND they’re good) and we’ll keep writing stuff here.