The Duke Blue Devils will start the 2016-17 season with one less game on their schedule after the Albany Great Danes had to cancel an early-season trip to Durham due to North Carolina’s HB2, a law that was seen as anti-LGBTQ as it overruled an ordinance that would have allowed transgender people to use the bathroom of their gender identification.
After that bill went into law, the state of New York, as did many others, banned any state-funded official travel to the state of North Carolina.
This caused the Great Danes to cancel their game against the Blue Devils, which was scheduled to be a part of the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame Tipoff tournament.
State University of New York spokesperson Holly Liapsis sent this statement to Albany Times Union:
“The State University of New York supports Governor Cuomo’s executive order banning all non-essential travel to the state of North Carolina, and we instructed our campuses to immediately review any existing travel plans by faculty and staff. SUNY and its campuses continue to support the Governor on taking this stand.”
Duke was scheduled to host two games to open the tournament as they will host Grand Canyon University on Nov. 11 before heading to the Mohegan Sun Arena to face Penn State on Nov. 19. They will now have to replace Albany with another opponent before Nov. 12.
