Rick Pitino decided to take matters into his own hands after the Iona men’s basketball team was forced to call off its game this weekend against No. 16 Seton Hall due to COVID-19 issues within the Pirates’ program.
The Gaels have been left without an opponent for Saturday’s game after the Big East program pulled out of the contest. Iona-Seton Hall was supposed to take place on Saturday at 3 p.m. in the most historic basketball arena in the world, Madison Square Garden.
Eager to have a game still take place, Pitino took to Twitter to try and find an opponent for his team on Thursday afternoon.
“Short notice, but anyone out there interested in playing us at 3:00PM on Saturday in the worlds most famous arena???” Pitino wrote.
Short notice, but anyone out there interested in playing us at 3:00PM on Saturday in the worlds most famous arena??? 🤦♂️
— Rick Pitino (@RealPitino) December 16, 2021
Pitino’s efforts are admirable, but it seems unlikely that anything will come to fruition in the next 48 hours. As of right now, there’s no signs that the non-conference game will be rescheduled.
Seton Hall was one of the top opponents on Iona’s 2021-22 schedule and would’ve given the Gaels a chance to get a resume-boosting win before entering conference play. The two teams met last year in Pitino’s Iona debut and the Pirates pulled away in the second half to win 86-64.
This year’s Iona team has come out of the gates firing on all cylinders. The Gaels are 9-2 through the first 11 games and boast a high-quality win over No. 10 Alabama. The team’s two losses came at the hands of a top-10 ranked team in Kansas and Belmont.
Pitino quickly made an impact in his first year with the Gaels in 2020, leading the group to an NCAA Tournament. Even if he can’t play this weekend at MSG, the two-time champion coach will surely have his team competitive by late March.
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