KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The University of Kansas men's basketball will not play in the rest of the Big 12 tournament after a player tested positive for COVID-19, the university said Friday.
According to the team, KU will remain in Kansas City, Missouri, to prepare for the upcoming NCAA Championship.
“Obviously we are disappointed and our players are disappointed that they can’t continue to compete for the Big 12 championship,” KU head coach, Bill Self, said. “While we have been fortunate to avoid this throughout the season, there are daily risks with this virus that everybody participating is trying to avoid. We have followed the daily testing and additional protocols that have been set up for us, unfortunately, we caught a bad break at the wrong time. I look forward to preparing my team in probably a unique way for next week’s NCAA Tournament.”
The team will continue to be tested on a daily basis per the NCAA guidelines and contract tracing is underway.
The Jayhawks were set to play in the Big 12 Conference Tournament semifinals at 8:30 p.m. tonight against the Texas Longhorns.
On Thursday, the Jayhawks defeated the University of Oklahoma Sooners 69-62.
It's not clear if it will affect the Jayhawks' ability to play in the NCAA Championship tournament, though Self told 41 Action News he is confident the team will be able to travel to Indianapolis Monday.
In a previous interview with 41 Action News, Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby said the team would continue to take precautions heading into the tournament.
"We're still very well advised to be cautious and I think we'll, we'll do that health and safety is continues to be first," Bowlsby said in part. "And certainly we haven't had any instances of transmission that we know of within the athletic environment but it's, it's still good to be safe and I think you'll see those, those safety precautions implemented during the course of the tournaments."
KU did not release the name of the player who tested positive for the virus.
