Tuesday evening's scheduled ACC showdown between Duke and Pittsburgh has been postponed after a positive COVID-19 test and subsequent quarantining and contact tracing within Pitt's program, the ACC announced Monday. A rescheduled date has not yet been set.
Pittsburgh last played on Dec. 22 against Louisville, but it did so without coach Jeff Capel, who contracted the virus and was forced to miss the game against the Cardinals. Capel returned to practice on Monday and was photographed with a mask just hours before the team reported the new positive test.
The game was supposed to be Duke's first in nearly two weeks after it canceled its remaining nonconference slate to allow its players time to spend with family over the Christmas holiday. Instead, it extends the hiatus, making Duke's tilt on Jan. 2 against Florida State its first contest in well over two weeks after last facing Notre Dame on Dec. 16.
It's not the first time Duke's opponent has dealt with an outbreak and been forced into canceling or postponing a game. The Blue Devils' season-opener against Gardner-Webb was called off because of COVID-19 issues within Gardner-Webb's program, as were games against Elon and Charleston Southern. None of those games are expected to be rescheduled.
"We're not going to try to reschedule," Coach K said on Dec. 10 about canceling its remaining nonconference slate and choosing not to reschedule postponed games. "We could try to reschedule three games, but we're not going to do that. We're going to play conference and hopefully get to play all of them."
