NEW ORLEANS — The NBA has postponed Wednesday night’s game in New Orleans between the Milwaukee Bucks and New Orleans Pelicans after a historic winter storm dumped about a foot of snow in the Big Easy.
Tuesday’s storm made road travel treacherous in a subtropical city with minimal snow-clearing equipment.
The Bucks beat the weather 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 in the metro areas were closed by authorities and surface roads throughout town remained coated in ice.
Schools and businesses throughout the area also remained closed Wednesday.
The Bucks are scheduled to play in Miami on Thursday, and it was unclear whether they would have to wait until the day of the game to fly out of New Orleans.
Louis Armstrong International Airport canceled all commercial departures Wednesday.
The Pelicans are scheduled to play in Memphis on Friday night.
LSU-South Carolina game pushed back a day
The Southeastern Conference has postponed Thursday night’s women’s basketball game between No. 5 LSU and No. 2 South Carolina in Columbia, S.C., until Friday because of winter weather.
The decision Wednesday came a day after Winter Storm Enzo dropped about a foot of snow in parts of southern Louisiana and made travel hazardous in subtropical communities that possess little in the way of snow-clearing equipment for roads and airports.
In its announcement, the SEC said Friday’s game would tip off at 5 p.m. EST.
LSU’s home game Sunday evening against Texas A&M remains on schedule.
LSU spokesman Michael Bonnette said highways in and around Baton Rouge remained closed Wednesday, and classes at LSU have been canceled through Thursday. But athletics officials were confident the women’s basketball team would be able to fly out of Baton Rouge on Thursday.
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.
South Carolina (18-1, 6-0 SEC) is coming off a 101-60 victory over Oklahoma on Sunday.
LSU (20-0, 5-0 SEC) is off to one of the best starts in program history and is coming off an 80-63 victory at Florida on Sunday. The 2022-23 national championship team currently owns the best start in program history at 23-0. That team’s first loss came at South Carolina.
