The Kernel is developing this story as updates are warranted. 

The Southeastern Conference has announced that the remainder of the SEC Tournament in Nashville has been canceled because due to COVID-19 concerns. 

Many other conferences have also announced the cancelations of their tournaments shortly before the SEC made the announcement. You can read the full press release from the SEC here. 

SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey held a press conference with media to address the situation. 

“I also want to say to our coaches I’ve not been able to reach each of our 14 men’s basketball coaches,” Commissioner Sankey said. When we made the decision, we had some succeeding decisions to be made. So first was the cancellation of the remainder of the SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament, which then raises the question what do you do with regular season competition? All regular season competition involving SEC teams with one exception I’ll speak of has been suspended through March 30. That one exception is NCAA Championship events that may be conducted, which will be subject to NCAA authority from a participation standpoint and institutional decision-making.”

Kentucky men’s basketball will receive an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament, which is currently set to be played with no fans in attendance. 

In addition to the conference tournament being canceled, the SEC has also announced the suspension of all regular season competition for teams in all sports on SEC campuses. At the time, that does not affect teams and individuals in NCAA competition.

Here’s the Kernel’s update of events from Wednesday night.