Duke basketball continues to be sidelined amid virus outbreak

The Duke basketball team still cannot get on the court as it continues to deal with its outbreak. 

It will be more than one game that the Duke basketball program misses as the team continues to deal with a COVID-19 outbreak.

The No. 2 Blue Devils (11-1, 1-0 ACC) had its game on Wednesday against Clemson postponed after the program saw multiple positive tests among players upon its return from its brief Christmas break.

Duke topped Virginia Tech prior to Christmas, 76-65, as the Hokies saw positive cases immediately after the game, which has put their program on pause.

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There has yet to be a rescheduled date announced for the two postponed games, but Duke is currently slated to play Georgia Tech on January 4 in Durham as the Yellow Jackets are slated to come off their own pause on January 2 against Louisville.

After the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced it has shortened the isolation period for individuals who test positive for the virus from ten days to five, the Atlantic Coast Conference has also revised its policy on when players who test positive can return to the court.

The conference says that players who are vaccinated against COVID-19 can return to action if the player is asymptotic and has two negative tests within 24 hours of each other or seven days have passed since the player’s initial positive test, the player’s symptoms are improving, and the player has one negative test.

Duke basketball away from basketball for extended period of time

The Blue Devils will have played a total of four games in the month of December after their latest game has been postponed.

Duke had a scheduled two-week break after its first loss of the season to Ohio State on November 30 before playing four games in nine days prior to the Christmas break.

Mike Krzyzewski’s team has eight games currently scheduled in January, although the two postponements could make that number larger if the ACC is able to find a common date between Duke and the two opponents.

Notre Dame (7-5, 1-1 ACC) was coming off of a road victory against Pittsburgh and already took down No. 10 Kentucky in South Bend earlier in the month.