Matt Stevens, IlliniGuys Staff Writer

February 6, 2023 (updated 6:37 pm)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- The men's basketball team at the University of Illinois where the Illini were set to host Minnesota on Tuesday night will be rescheduled because of current COVID-19 issues within the Gophers program. The game has been rescheduled for Monday February 20 at 8 PM CT and all distributed tickets for Tuesday night's game will be valid for the new date and time.

The University of Minnesota athletics department announced that an issue involving “COVID-19 health and safety protocols within the Golden Gopher program” existed and mandated that the Tuesday night game in Champaign needed to be either canceled or rescheduled. This is the first game this season for the Illini that is affected by COVID-19.

Illinois (16-7, 7-5 in Big Ten Conference) defeated Minnesota 78-60 on Jan. 16 at Williams Arena in Minneapolis, which was the first of Minnesota’s current seven-game losing streak. The Gophers (7-15, 1-11) last played on Saturday, losing 81-46 at home to Maryland.

Minnesota is the second Big Ten program to deal with a pause due to coronavirus issues within its roster this season after Northwestern has already played two rescheduled games against Iowa and Wisconsin.

Illinois will now have six days to prepare for a Saturday home against Rutgers (16-7, 8-4) for a 1 p.m. tip at State Farm Center.