Missouri Valley tournament: Drake vs. Northern Iowa canceled due to COVID-19 issues within UNI program

The MVC quarterfinal matchup between Drake and Northern Iowa has been called off due to UNI COVID-19 issues.

Friday’s Missouri Valley tournament quarterfinal matchup between Drake and Northern Iowa has been canceled due to a COVID-19-related issue within the UNI program, according to Stadium’s Jeff Goodman.

The two teams were scheduled to tip at 6 p.m. ET at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis. Shortly before the scheduled tipoff, rumors began swirling about a potential cancellation with neither team taking the floor for warmups.

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Drake will advance to the semifinals against either Missouri State or Valparaiso, scheduled to be played Saturday at 4:05 p.m. ET.

The conference issued an official statement shortly after the reports surfaced.

The Missouri Valley Conference has cancelled the third quarterfinal game of the 2021 State Farm MVC Tournament. Drake will advance to Saturday's semifinal round & will face the winner of Missouri State-Valparaiso at 3:05 pm CT.

Official statement forthcoming.

— MVC Basketball (@ValleyHoops) March 5, 2021

Drake started the day as the fifth-to-last team in Heat Check CBB bracketologist Lukas Harkins’ latest bracket update. The Bulldogs will now only need two more wins to secure the MVC’s automatic bid.

A full timeline of the cancellation developments is below.

No one on the floor warming up. It appears Game 5 will be delayed. Rumors are swirling.

— Harry Schroeder (@FatherHarry1) March 5, 2021

Drake’s team has come on to the floor for the first time. No sign of UNI. Game is supposed to start in 20 minutes. #MVCHoops

— Paul Oren (@NWIOren) March 5, 2021

They have taken the UNI-Drake graphics off the scoreboard at the Enterprise Center. No official announcement on anything for any league or school source.

— Todd Aaron Golden (@TribStarTodd) March 5, 2021

Spoke to someone with the the UNI athletics department that does not have any roll in whether or not the game is played or canceled but they said “We will see, but it doesn’t look like UNI will be getting this game in.” Not official but they didn’t sound optimistic. @SoundOFF13

— Justin Surrency (@JustinSurrency) March 5, 2021

It’s all over but the official statement. COVID ends a promising UNI basketball season derailed by a significant injury and the pandemic.

— Nick Petaros (@NickPetaros) March 5, 2021

Employee from the @Enterprise_Cntr just said the next #ArchMadness matchup between @UNImbb (7) and @DrakeBulldogsMB (2) has been cancelled. Lots of rumors swirling about a possible #COVID19 positive case on one of the teams. #NCAA pic.twitter.com/yHk7nwXCfo

— Brian Munoz (@brianmmunoz) March 5, 2021

The Missouri Valley quarterfinal between UNI-Drake is off due to COVID issue within UNI program, source told @Stadium.

— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) March 5, 2021