Anticipated South Carolina vs UConn women’s basketball game canceled. Here’s why

South Carolina women’s basketball won’t be playing UConn on Thursday after all.

USC announced in a release Sunday that the Gamecocks have canceled the matchup with UConn to be held at Colonial Life Arena this Thursday, and they will instead play Ole Miss.

Tipoff time and broadcast information has not been released, though tickets for the original game between South Carolina and UConn will be honored for the rescheduled matchup with Ole Miss, the release said.

The original game scheduled between South Carolina and Ole Miss was postponed on Jan. 2 due to a combination of positive COVID-19 tests, contact tracing and subsequent quarantining of individuals in the Rebels’ program.

“I know our fans always enjoy the UConn game, and our team enjoys the rivalry; but I have always said that our conference season and especially our goal of another SEC championship is more central to our program,” South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley said in the release. “As we approach the second half of league play next month, it has become more important to complete our SEC schedule to keep ourselves in the running for a conference title. This Thursday is one of the few dates Ole Miss has open, so, with my team’s best interest at heart, I started the conversations that led us to this point.”

UConn agreed to the schedule change, given the Huskies have also dealt with postponements in Big East play.