Iowa Hawkeyes men’s basketball team has skirted COVID-19 so far

IOWA CITY — Maybe it’s for the best that Tuesday night’s Southeastern Louisiana-Iowa men’s basketball game is unlikely to be played at anything much more than half-capacity.

COVID-19 issues are crisscrossing college basketball as they have with pro sports and life itself. In the hour Iowa held a press conference Monday with head coach Fran McCaffery and two of his players, this happened:

Ohio State and Penn State had already put their men’s teams on pause because of COVID issues. Drake’s scheduled Wednesday game against Saint Louis in Las Vegas was canceled Monday afternoon because of COVID issues in Saint Louis’ program.

For now, Iowa is untouched by COVID issues, or by an opponent with one. Southeastern Louisiana (4-8) comes to Carver-Hawkeye Arena fresh off a game at Iowa State on Sunday. The Hawkeyes (8-3) beat Utah State 94-75 in Sioux Falls, S.D., Saturday.

Before this season began, the Iowa program — coaches, players, support staff — was 100 percent vaccinated. The players got booster shots last week.

“I didn't have to sell it at all,” McCaffery said. “They were all-in, yeah. Nobody questioned it.

“They got vaccinated relatively early, and they got boostered at the appropriate time.”

Iowa’s players lived in virtual isolation last season in order to play a full schedule.

“Guys made good decisions I thought last year, and they're still doing it,” McCaffery said. “This go-round apparently is a little bit more aggressive, but obviously our confidence level is high because everybody has been double-vaccinated, been boostered, and we're trying to be intelligent with how we live our lives and stay committed to one another.

“Not to say that it couldn't happen, because it certainly could, but I think we've done everything we can to increase the chances that it's not going to happen.“

Many of the more than 25 Division I men’s teams currently paused because of COVID may have felt similarly.

Iowa’s players are free to go home for Christmas. Joe Toussaint is leaving Thursday to spend a few days at his New York City home.

“Be mindful of where you go, what you do, wear a mask,” Toussaint said. “Yeah, we’re vaccinated, but that doesn’t prevent us from getting it. So just take the right precautions.”

“I think we all do a pretty good job of staying in our own circle and not putting ourselves in a position where we can potentially be shut down,” said Hawkeye forward Kris Murray.

“We don’t want to be in the same situation as last year.”

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