Northwestern’s men’s Dec. 30 basketball game against Prairie View A&M  has been cancelled and will not be made up, per a Monday afternoon athletic department release.

The game was cancelled “by mutual agreement between the two programs,” according to the release. The announcement came hours after the Panthers’ game against Valparaiso University, previously scheduled for Tuesday, was also called off “due to COVID-19 health and safety protocols.”

This is the second game of the 2022 season the Wildcats have lost to COVID-19 considerations, following a home date with DePaul that was scheduled for Dec. 18. NU will end its December with just three games played — wins over Maryland, NJIT and Illinois-Springfield on Dec. 5, 12 and 20, respectively. It’s the fewest games the Cats have played in the month of December since December 1943, when NU played Western Michigan, Notre Dame and the Great Lakes Navy.

The matchup would have been the first between the Cats and Prairie View A&M, one of the most successful HBCU men’s basketball teams of recent years. The Panthers made the NCAA Tournament in 2019 and won SWAC regular season titles in 2020 and 2021.

NU’s next scheduled game is against No. 10 Michigan State, currently scheduled to tip off at 1 CT on Jan. 2.

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