Friday's St. Louis-Richmond game postponed due to COVID-19 concerns

The Saint Louis Billikens men's basketball team, ranked No. 22 in the country, won't be playing at the Richmond Spiders on Friday evening. 

The Billikens have confirmed that the team is returning home "as a result of COVID-19 concerns raised by the Saint Louis medical staff." 

The brief statement continues: "SLU was prepared to play the game as scheduled, and is not in a position to comment on the concerns raised by its medical staff." 

"We are extremely disappointed tonight's game between the Spiders and Saint Louis University was postponed," Richmond Vice President and Director of Athletics John Hardt said in his school's prepared statement. "Our team was prepared to play and had successfully cleared all appropriate University, A10, NCAA and Virginia Department of Health COVID-19 protocols." 

Spiders coach Chris Mooney added: "We are disappointed by tonight's postponement. We had completed all of our health and safety protocols and were prepared to play. We will continue to comply with all relevant COVID regulations and we are looking forward to Tuesday's game vs George Mason." 

According to the Associated Press (h/t ESPN), Saint Louis has had seven consecutive games postponed and then dropped to 7-2 overall and 0-1 in conference play with a 76-71 loss to the Dayton Flyers this past Tuesday. Before that contest, the Billikens hadn't competed since Dec. 23. 

Richmond (10-4, 4-2), meanwhile, toppled the Saint Joseph's Hawks on Tuesday.