Oregon-VCU Game Declared No-Contest Due to COVID-19, Oregon Advances

Oregon advances to the second round after its first-round game against VCU was called off hours before tip-off.

Hours before tip-off, the first-round game between Oregon and VCU has been ruled a no-contest because of COVID-19 protocols, the NCAA announced Saturday. Oregon will advance to the second round.

“This decision was made in consultation with the Marion County Public Health Department. As a result, Oregon will advance to the next round of the tournament," the NCAA announced in a statement. "The NCAA and the committee regret that VCU’s student-athletes and coaching staff will not be able to play in a tournament in which they earned the right to participate. Because of privacy issues, we cannot provide further details.”

VCU was making its ninth NCAA men's basketball tournament appearance in the past 10 tournaments. The Rams were 19-7 overall on the season and finished in second place in the Atlantic 10, losing to St. Bonaventure in the conference tournament final.

After the announcement, VCU coach Mike Rhoades said the team has had multiple positive tests within the past 48 hours. The team reportedly had its first positive test on Wednesday, then two more on Friday night that prompted the NCAA and Marion County health officials to decide against holding Saturday night's game, per Matt Norlander of CBS Sports.

We are heartbroken tonight. Thank you, Ram Nation, for your support during this challenging year. #ThisIsRamNation #LetsGoVCU pic.twitter.com/NRVnoTUlD8

— VCU Basketball (@VCU_Hoops) March 21, 2021

VCU athletics director Ed McLaughlin said after the decision to cancel the game that the team has been following COVID-19 protocols all season, and that there was hope that contact tracing would enable the game to be played as scheduled.

"This isn't something where our team broke protocol and did the wrong thing," McLaughlin said, per ESPN's Adam Rittenberg. "We don't know how this happened, but it certainly wasn't bad behavior on our side. It's brutal."

According to Norlander, there's belief within the VCU program that the current situation can be traced back to the Atlantic 10 tournament. VCU, St. Bonaventure and the entire officiating crew stayed at the same hotel. Official Roger Ayers worked the tournament and later tested positive for COVID-19 after arriving in Indianapolis to work the NCAA tournament.

Norlander reports that there were fans staying at the hotel as well, and many were not following protocols. A spokesperson for the conference said in a statement that all teams stayed at the same hotel on "dedicated floors separate from each other and separate from the public."

This is the first game of the NCAA tournament to be canceled because of COVID-19.