Oregon advanced in the 2021 Men’s NCAA Tournament after their Saturday night opponent, Virginia Commonwealth, had multiple players test positive for COVID-19 and was forced to pull out of the tournament.
The NCAA ruled that 10th-seeded VCU’s first-round game Saturday against Oregon was a “no-contest.” That means the seventh-seeded Ducks will advance to face Iowa in the second round of the West region on Monday. The announcement came a little more than three hours before VCU and Oregon were supposed to play.
Oregon Coach Dana Altman released this statement on Saturday:
“During these challenging times, health and safety is the highest priority. We would like to wish the VCU student-athletes and staff all the best, and congratulate them on an outstanding season. We hate to see a team’s season end this way after all the hard work these student-athletes have put in. This isn’t the way we wanted to advance, but we are excited to be moving on, and we will start our preparation for Monday’s game.”
Monday's second-round game between Oregon and No. 2 Iowa is set for 9:10 AM. Iowa advanced after their 86-74 win over No. 15 seed Grand Canyon.
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