Tuesday, November 24, 2020

PORTLAND, Ore. – The GNAC on Tuesday unveiled men’s and women’s basketball schedules for the 2021 season. The 12-game, eight-week schedules feature the four institutions that have elected to move forward with conference seasons.

The seasons are projected to begin on Friday, Jan. 15 and Saturday, Jan. 16. The men’s basketball schedule opens with Saint Martin’s hosting Northwest Nazarene and Seattle Pacific hosting Alaska. The women’s basketball schedule commences with Northwest Nazarene hosting Saint Martin’s and Alaska hosting Seattle Pacific.

During the conference-only schedule, teams will face their conference opponents four times – twice at home and twice on the road. All games will be closed to spectators. Teams competing in the conference season are not allowed to schedule non-conference games or games against GNAC teams that have elected to not compete in the conference season.

To emphasize the health and safety of student-athletes, coaches and staff, teams will play games on consecutive days against the same opponent in the same location, with games played on Fridays and Saturdays. The men’s and women’s schedules mirror each other, with two competing schools playing each other on the same dates at opposite locations.

To allow maximum flexibility in the event of rescheduling games, this year’s schedules include two sets of byes. The first bye is scheduled for the midway point of the seasons on Feb. 5 and 6. The second will be at the conclusion of the season on March 5 and 6.

With health and safety concerns surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic and the few amount of teams electing to play a conference season, the 2021 GNAC Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships have been canceled. The tournament was scheduled for March 4-6 at Marcus Pavilion on the campus of Saint Martin’s University.

Six institutions informed the GNAC earlier in November that they would not compete in the conference basketball seasons for COVID-19 reasons: Alaska Anchorage, Central Washington, Montana State Billings, Simon Fraser, Western Oregon and Western Washington. Those programs will be allowed institutional autonomy to conduct countable athletically-related activities within NCAA regulations. Those teams will be allowed to seek non-conference competition within applicable health guidelines, including games against other GNAC institutions that will not compete in the conference season.