Fresno State has second game postponed amid COVID concerns in men’s basketball program

The Fresno State Bulldogs have had a second game postponed by COVID-19 concerns in the men’s basketball program, with a Wednesday game at San Diego State now off.

The Mountain West Conference will make an attempt to reschedule, but if unable to find a spot that fits for both teams the game will be canceled and go down as a no-contest.

The Bulldogs (10-4), who opened conference play with a 65-55 loss at Boise State, are next scheduled to play Saturday against Wyoming and Jan. 11 against San Jose State at the Save Mart Center.

But COVID-19 is starting to take a toll on the conference season.

Fresno State had its New Year’s Day game against Air Force postponed. Boise State had to postpone its New Year’s Day game at Wyoming shortly before tipoff and a Tuesday game at Utah State due to COVID concerns.

San Jose State has had to postpone its first three Mountain West games, against Nevada, at Utah State and against UNLV. Colorado State, which is 10-0, also had to postpone its conference opener at New Mexico.

In the first week of the conference schedule, only four of the nine scheduled games were played and in the second week three of 10 games already have been postponed.

Under the revised Mountain West COVID-19 game cancellation policy for men’s and women’s basketball, a team must have seven available student-athletes and one countable coach to play a game, though it may choose to go forward with less than the minimum at its discretion.

If a team has the requisite number of participants and chooses not to compete, the game will be canceled and declared a forfeit with the team choosing not to participate receiving a loss and its opponents a win in the conference standings and to determine seeding for the conference tournament.

This story was originally published January 2, 2022 at 11:40 AM.