Yeshiva U. basketball team forfeits crucial game, citing Shabbat

• Published date: 20 February 2023
• Publication title: Israel National News (Israel)

That's because the Maccabees' game against the Farmingdale State College Rams was canceled after its scheduled tipoff time, with Y.U.'s athletic director citing tight timing after Shabbat as the reason

In a statement issued late Saturday, the athletic director, Greg Fox, said a promise to allow "adequate warmup time" after the Y.U. team traveled from its home in Washington Heights to Farmingdale State's Long Island campus had been broken.

"It is sad for me to report that we chose to cancel tonight's men's basketball game against Farmingdale State College," Fox said. "When we arrived at the game, as early as possible after Shabbat, we were not provided with sufficient time to warm up. In the interest of safety, we could not allow our student-athletes to proceed. Farmingdale had made a prior commitment to provide adequate warmup time, which was not honored."

The stakes of the game were high: The winner would get the top ranking in the Skyline Conference and would get to play all of the postseason games at home.

The game was set for 8:30 p.m. But that time came and went without a starting whistle. Instead, the student broadcaster who has streamed Y.U.'s games since before the team's improbable NCAA tournament run last year tweeted that the game would start closer to 9 p.m. Two minutes before that, he tweeted again: "The game has been canceled." Fox's explanation came hours later.

The incident marks a rare public collision in Y.U.'s unusual status as the only Modern Orthodox school in the NCAA. Last year, as the team extended its winning...