Oregon will advance to March Madness second round due to a no-contest rule.

The Oregon men’s basketball team will advance to the 2021 NCAA Tournament second round due to a no-contest rule declared by the NCAA. VCU was scheduled to take on the Ducks at 9:57 p.m. ET on Saturday.

The NCAA’s full release on the matter is below.

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“The NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee has declared the VCU-Oregon game scheduled for Saturday night at Indiana Farmers Coliseum a no-contest because of COVID-19 protocols. This decision was made in consultation with the Marion County Public Health Department. As a result, Oregon will advance to the next round of the tournament. The NCAA and the committee regret that VCU’s student-athletes and coaching staff will not be able to play in a tournament in which they earned the right to participate. Because of privacy issues we cannot provide further details.”

This is the first 2021 NCAA Tournament game that will not be played as originally scheduled. Oregon will play the winner of Saturday’s game between No. 2 seed Iowa and No. 15 seed Grand Canyon in the second round on Monday.

Atlantic 10 commissioner Bernadette V. McGlade issued the following statement on the cancellation.

CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander reported that VCU had its first positive test on Wednesday and then two more positive tests Friday night. Norlander also reported that this week’s positive tests were the first positives within the VCU program since last summer.

This story will be updated with additional information.

Eli Boettger
Eli Boettger

Heat Check CBB founder, editor