The University of Notre Dame men’s basketball trip to Washington, D.C., on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, January 18, 2021, to face Howard University has been postponed until the 2022 season.
The postponement is due to COVID-19 safety precautions within the Howard program.
“I am disappointed that we will not be able to make the trip on Monday, but we are committed to going back in 2022 to make this game happen,” Glenn and Stacey Murphy Head Men’s Basketball Coach Mike Brey said.
“We hope that by next season, we will have a packed Burr Gymnasium, be able to invite special guests connected with both teams in the D.C. area and have the experience we envisioned when we scheduled this game in the summer of 2020.”
“We are all incredibly disappointed by this cancellation,” said Howard Director of Athletics Kery Davis.
“This was a tremendous opportunity to bring national exposure to our basketball team and the University. However, it goes without saying that the health and welfare of our student-athletes is our priority first and foremost.”
The game was set to be played Monday afternoon and broadcast nationally on Fox with Howard alum Gus Johnson on the call, joined by analyst Jim Jackson.
Since 2019, Howard has honored Dr. King’s Celebration of Excellence by hosting non conference contests with iconic, historical institutions. In the past two seasons, HU has greeted Ivy League perennials Harvard (2019) and Yale (2020) to The Burr.
The connections between Notre Dame men’s basketball, the Howard coaching staff and the Washington, DC, area run deep. Mike Brey and associate head coach Rod Balanis have roots in the DMV area and both graduated from DeMatha High School. Kenny Blakeney also is a DeMatha graduate, played at Duke (1992-95) while Mike Brey was an assistant with the Blue Devils and was the head assistant coach under Brey at Delaware (2002-05). Former Notre Dame video coordinator and three-time team captain Eric Atkins is in his second year as an assistant on the Howard coaching staff.
The 2022 game wall also marks the return to the D.C. area for current Irish junior Prentiss Hubb (Upper Marlboro), who graduated from Gonzaga High School. Hubb is the latest Notre Dame stand out to call the Washington, D.C., area home, as the ‘D.C. Pipeline’ has included Austin Carr, Adrian Dantley, Jerian Grant, Bob Whitmore, Don Williams, Monty Williams, Collis Jones, Tracy Jackson, Tom Sluby, Sid Catlett and Notre Dame President Emeritus Rev. Edward A. Malloy, C.S.C.
Notre Dame has welcomed 10 different HBCUs to campus for 12 men’s basketball games throughout the program’s history. The trip to Howard will be the first road trip for the Irish to an HBCU and the first for an Atlantic Coast Conference team since Miami (Florida) played at Savannah State on December 19, 2013.
The contest marks the first against a Power Five Conference team for Howard at home since Oregon State visited Burr Gymnasium on November 27, 2010.