NEW ORLEANS — The NBA and multiple college basketball conferences postponed games in response to winter weather that broke snowfall records in some southern states and coated others with a mix of snow and ice.
Wednesday night’s NBA game between the Milwaukee Bucks and New Orleans Pelicans was called off a day after Winter Storm Enzo dumped about a foot of snow in New Orleans — a subtropical city with very little in the way of experience with, or equipment for, clearing large amounts of snow.
In nearby Baton Rouge, LSU’s fifth-ranked women’s basketball team was unable to fly Wednesday to Columbia, S.C., so the Southeastern Conference chose to postpone the Tigers’ game against No. 2 South Carolina from Thursday night until Friday evening.
Meanwhile, the Sun Belt Conference cited “hazardous travel conditions” in rescheduling four men’s basketball games.
Georgia Southern’s home game against Coastal Carolina and Louisiana-Lafayette’s home game against Texas State were moved from Wednesday to Thursday. Two games originally scheduled for Thursday — Southern Mississippi at Troy and South Alabama at Louisiana-Monroe — were moved to Monday.
The NBA did not immediately announce when the Bucks-Pelicans game would be made up, and it was initially unclear if the Bucks would be able to make it to Milwaukee in time for a game against the Miami Heat on Thursday night. That game eventually was pushed back by one hour.
The Bucks beat the winter weather in New Orleans 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 and bridges across southern Louisiana were closed by authorities and surface roads throughout New Orleans were coated with ice.
Schools and businesses throughout the area also remained closed Wednesday.
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Louis Armstrong International Airport canceled all commercial departing flights Wednesday, making it likely that the Bucks would have to travel to Milwaukee on the day of the Heat game — if they could get out in time.
An NBA official said there were no immediate plans to postpone Thursday’s game, but a decision to play ultimately would hinge on whether the Bucks can fly out of New Orleans in time.
The Pelicans are scheduled to play in Memphis on Friday night.
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.
LSU spokesman Michael Bonnette said the university decided to cancel classes through Thursday because of road closures and wintry conditions on surface roads in the area. But athletics officials were confident the women’s basketball team would be able to fly out of Baton Rouge on Thursday.