Winter storm causes rescheduling of NBA and college games across the South

The NBA and multiple college basketball conferences postponed games in response to winter weather that broke snowfall records in some southern states and coated others with a mix of snow and ice.

Wednesday night’s NBA contest between the Milwaukee Bucks and the Pelicans was called off a day after Winter Storm Enzo dumped about a foot of snow in New Orleans — a subtropical city with very little in the way of experience with, or equipment for, clearing large amounts of snow.

In nearby Baton Rouge, LSU’s fifth-ranked women’s basketball team was unable to fly on Wednesday to Columbia, South Carolina, so the Southeastern Conference chose to postpone the Tigers’ game at the No. 2 Gamecocks from Thursday night until Friday evening.

Meanwhile, the Sun Belt Conference cited “hazardous travel conditions” in rescheduling four men’s basketball games.

Georgia Southern’s home game against Coastal Carolina, and Louisiana-Lafayette’s home game against Texas State were moved from Wednesday to Thursday. Two games originally scheduled for Thursday — Southern Mississippi at Troy and South Alabama at Louisiana-Monroe — both were moved to Monday.

The NBA did not immediately announce when the Bucks-Pelicans game would be made up, and it was unclear if the Bucks would be able to make it to Miami in time for a game against the Heat on Thursday night.

The Bucks beat the winter weather in New Orleans by flying in Monday, a day earlier than usual, in the event that road conditions became safe enough to hold the game at the 18,000-seat downtown Smoothie King Center.

But temperatures remained in the 30s on Wednesday, many main highways and bridges across south Louisiana were closed by authorities and surface roads throughout New Orleans were coated with ice.

Schools and businesses throughout the area also remained closed on Wednesday.

Louis Armstrong International Airport canceled all commercial departing flights on Wednesday, making it likely that the Bucks would have to travel to Miami on the day of the game — if they could get out in time.

An NBA official said there were no immediate plans to postpone Thursday’s game, but a decision to play ultimately would hinge on whether the Bucks can fly out of New Orleans in time.

The Pelicans are scheduled to play in Memphis on Friday night.

After breaking snow records in Texas and Louisiana on Tuesday, the storm continued to spread heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain across parts of the Florida Panhandle, Georgia and the coastal Carolinas on Wednesday.

LSU spokesman Michael Bonnette said the university decided to cancel classes through Thursday because of road closures and wintry conditions on surface roads in the area. But athletics officials were confident the women’s basketball team would be able to fly out of Baton Rouge on Thursday.

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