Duke women's basketball pauses, postpones game at No. 4 NC State

Both the women's and men's basketball programs of the Duke Blue Devils have made headlines in December for issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

On Wednesday, the Duke women's team confirmed that it is temporarily pausing activities due to two positive coronavirus test results and subsequent contact tracing among those within its traveling party.

As a result, Duke's game at the No. 4-ranked NC State Wolfpack scheduled for Sunday has been postponed. The Blue Devils also scrapped a showdown with the UNC Wilmington Seahawks slated for next Tuesday. 

It's unknown when, how, or if those games will be rescheduled. 

Duke opened the season with three consecutive victories before falling to the No. 2-ranked Louisville Cardinals on Dec. 9. A game between the Blue Devils and Miami Hurricanes scheduled for this past Sunday was also postponed. 

Duke men's basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski attracted criticism last week when he questioned the NCAA holding college seasons during the ongoing health crisis after his team suffered a defeat to the Illinois Fighting Illini and fell to 2-2 on the campaign.  Krzyzewski explained after that game:

"I would just like for the safety, the mental and physical health of players and staff to assess where we're at. People are saying the next six weeks are going to be the worst. To me, it's already pretty bad. On the other side of it, there are these vaccines that are coming out. By the end of the month, 20 million vaccine shots will be given. By the end of January or in February, another 100 million. Should we not reassess that? See just what would be best?"

Two days after that loss, Krzyzewski announced the cancellation of the remainder of his team's nonconference schedule. The Duke men face the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Wednesday night and are then idle until a matchup against the Pitt Panthers on Dec. 29.