By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa — The men’s basketball game between Iowa and Northwestern that was scheduled for Wednesday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena will not be played due to COVID-19 health and safety protocols within the Northwestern program.

The two schools will work with the Big Ten on rescheduling options.

All distributed tickets for the Northwestern-Iowa game will be valid for the new date and time, if the game is able to be rescheduled.

Under the Big Ten’s revised forfeiture policy, the conference reviews every game impacted by COVID, then decides whether it can be rescheduled, declared a no-contest or ruled a forfeit. Big Ten rules stipulate teams must have at least one coach and seven scholarship players to play a basketball game.

It is being reported that Northwestern only has six players available because of the Covid-19 virus.

This is the fourth time in the last four seasons in which a Hawkeyes game was postponed or canceled due to Covid-related protocols. The majority of the 2020 Big Ten tournament in Indianapolis was canceled, including Iowa’s scheduled game against Minnesota.

Iowa (12-6, 4-3) returns to action on Saturday at Ohio State. Tipoff is slated for 1:01 p.m. (CT) at Value City Arena in Columbus, Ohio.

BROADCAST NOTE

The Chris Street special one-hour documentary that was scheduled to debut on Big Ten Network following Wednesday night’s Hawkeye basketball game will now be shown immediately following the Ohio State/Nebraska men’s basketball game on Wednesday at approximately 8 p.m. (CT). Following the documentary, the network will re-air the classic Michigan-Iowa basketball game from Jan. 31, 1993.

Hawkeyesports.com contributed to this report