There have been a ton of sports events canceled over the past year due to COVID-19 concerns, some at the last minute. But it’s certainly new and interesting to a game go down right around the opening national anthem. Scott Eisberg, the sports director for WCIV (an ABC affiliate in Charleston, SC), tweeted Tuesday night that that’s what happened during a Charleston Southern Buccaneers home basketball game against the University of South Carolina Upstate Spartans (which had been set for WatchESPN):
What a time. Just showed up at the BucDome. The bus over my shoulder is USC Upstate’s. It’s going back to Spartanburg.
Per security guard, Upstate strength coach tested positive and the game was called DURING the National Anthem. No CSU-Upstate tonight or tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/SSaiPeXIab
— Scott Eisberg (@SEisbergWCIV) January 20, 2021
And that timing seems about right. Here’s what the USC Upstate MBB Twitter account sent out at 7:12 p.m. Eastern, shortly after the planned 7:00 p.m. tipoff:
Due to a positive test, tonight's game at Charleston Southern has been postponed to a later date. Makeup date TBD.
— USC Upstate Men's Basketball (@UpstateMBB) January 20, 2021
Heck, even a scores bot tweeted that the game had started.
[NCAAM] Game started, USC Upstate at Charleston Southern.
— CFB Scores Bot (@cfbscoresbot) January 20, 2021
Meanwhile, Kevin Bilodeau, the sports director at Charleston CBS affiliate Live Five, tweeted that these postponements happened just before tipoff:
Just minutes before tip off at Charleston Southern, tonight’s game against USC Upstate, as well as tomorrow’s game, have been postponed because of a positive COVID-19 test with the Spartans @Live5News pic.twitter.com/zsGdKJZt9l
— Kevin Bilodeau (@KevinLive5) January 19, 2021
In any case, this certainly led to a remarkable turnaround from “game” to “no game.”
[Photo via Kevin Bilodeau on Twitter]