For the second time in as many days, the Kent State men’s basketball team has cancelled or postponed what would have been their season opener.

The team was slated to host Purdue Fort Wayne tomorrow at 5 p.m.

At 7:24 p.m. today the team’s Twitter account, @KentStMBB, tweeted that the game would be “postponed due to COVID-19 concerns” and that the teams were working on setting a makeup date for the game.

Just yesterday the Flashes’ matchup against Alcorn State, which was also set to be played at home, was cancelled due to COVID-19 precautions as well.

Eric Mansfield, assistant vice president of content strategy and communication for KSU, confirmed that there had been no positive tests among Kent State’s players or staff.

“We are not experiencing any issues in our program at this time,” Mansfield said.

Game cancellations have been a common occurrence across the college basketball landscape this season, including in the Mid-American Conference.

Akron announced four days ago that it would be pausing all basketball activities until at least early December due to COVID-19. 

On Nov. 25, Central Michigan announced they were cancelling their season opener against Division III Trine hours before tip-off. Later that day Western Michigan announced they too would cancel their game at Indiana University scheduled for today. 

Coach Rob Senderoff said he understands these cancellations are just a product of the times, and said flexibility would be important this season.

“I guess I’d just say 2020,” he said after the Alcorn State cancellation. “We gotta roll with the punches. We gotta worry about ourselves moving forward and hope for the best in the conference for the future.”

The Flashes’ home opener is now set to be Wednesday, Dec. 2 against Point Park University (Pa.) at 5 p.m.

Dante Centofanti is a sports reporter. Contact him at [email protected].

Owen MacMillan is a sports editor. Contact him at [email protected].

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Hi, I’m Lauren Sasala, a senior journalism student from Toledo. I’m also the editor in chief of The Kent Stater and KentWired this semester. My staff and I are committed to bringing you the most important news about Kent State and the Kent community. We are full-time students and hard-working journalists. While we get support from the student media fee and earned revenue such as advertising, both of those continue to decline. Your generous gift of any amount will help enhance our student experience as we grow into working professionals. Please go here to donate.