Florida Gulf Coast enters two-week pause due to COVID-19

The Florida Gulf Coast Eagles men's basketball team announced that it has entered a two-week pause for the second time since late December following a positive COVID-19 test result and contact tracing among players, coaches and staff members associated with the program. 

As a result, FGCU won't play again until matchups at the Jacksonville Dolphins on Feb. 26-27. That is the Atlantic Sun Conference's final weekend of the regular season. The ASUN Championship Tournament runs March 3-7 in Jacksonville. 

"We are extremely disappointed to miss games the next two weeks, especially since we were regaining the confidence and rhythm we played with prior to our last shutdown," FGCU coach Michael Fly said in the prepared statement. "However, we are going to focus on the things that we can control and a global pandemic is not one of those. We will be doing all that we can to prepare for our return so that we can put ourselves in the best position possible for the postseason. As always, we appreciate all that our Athletics Sports Medicine unit, the University medical staff, and the Florida Department of Health have done, and continue to do, in their work to keep our student-athletes safe."

Florida Gulf Coast won four of its past six games before the pause and improved to 9-6 overall and 4-4 in conference play with a 69-60 win over the North Alabama Lions last Saturday.

The last time the Eagles came off a pause, they lost back-to-back contests to the Bellarmine Knights on Jan. 15-16. 

On Tuesday, the Howard Bison men's basketball team canceled the remainder of its season due to COVID-19 issues and concerns.