Texas Basketball: Big 12 Tournament now to be played without fans
Texas basketball tips off their run in the Big 12 Tournament on March 12 against Texas Tech, now played in front of a much smaller audience.
The novel coronavirus is seeing its impact stem all the way to the Texas basketball program in multiple respects now. Texas will likely be playing in the Big 12 Tournament without a full crowd, and it will be too if it makes it through Selection Sunday to the NCAA Tournament. The Big Dance being played in front of no fans, outside of essential personnel and limited family, will be a huge change that is never before seen.
The Big 12 Conference released a statement on their Twitter timeline on March 11 that the Texas Longhorns basketball program, along with the rest of the teams in the tourney, will be playing in front of a limited audience. Really the only personnel that will be allowed in games are 125 “essential personnel” and limited family members from each team.
The ACC and Big 12 followed suit to what the NCAA did for the Big Dance a few hours prior to this announcement. The NCAA Tournament will be following the same rules that the Big 12 and ACC tourneys will this year.
Announcement:
— Big 12 Conference (@Big12Conference) March 11, 2020
Beginning with tomorrow's tournament games, we will be implementing limited access. Teams will have access to 125 tickets for staff and guests of student-athletes.
For the full announcement and more details ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/8W7h565eGn
The NCAA president Mark Emmert also released a statement detailing the information on the limited audiences that will be allowed to watch the Big Dance in person this year.
NCAA President Mark Emmert statement on limiting attendance at NCAA events: https://t.co/TIHHJjdse5 pic.twitter.com/8I1HdceDfN
— NCAA (@NCAA) March 11, 2020
Novel coronavirus is having an impact on the tournaments for all of the power conferences in college hoops. The SEC, ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, and the PAC-12 are all taking significant measures to take precautions in the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak.
The @SEC is aware of the statement just released by the @NCAA. Tonight’s SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament games will continue as regularly scheduled. We are evaluating plans for the remainder of the tournament. More to come.
— Southeastern Conference (@SEC) March 11, 2020
The ACC will alter the remainder of the #ACCTourney https://t.co/CxyECij26E
— ACC Men's Basketball (@accmbb) March 11, 2020
There were a few games played already once the statements were announced from the ACC and Big 12 that they will play the remainder of their conference tournaments in front of limited audiences. The Oklahoma State Cowboys were taking on the Iowa State Cyclones in a first round game in the Big 12 Tournament.
Next. 3 reasons why Texas can win the Big 12 Tournament. dark
And the highlight of the first day of the ACC Tournament was the struggling North Carolina Tar Heels knocking off the Virginia Tech Hokies. Texas will be hoping to ride the efforts of their young standout players, including the guard combination of sophomore Courtney Ramey and junior Matt Coleman, to a win over the Texas Tech Red Raiders in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament on March 12.