Water shortage forces North Carolina to postpone, move basketball game against Notre Dame

Reporting from CHAPEL HILL, N.C. —  The men’s basketball game between No. 12 North Carolina and No. 20 Notre Dame scheduled for Saturday in Chapel Hill has been postponed a day and moved to Greensboro, N.C., because of a water shortage.

In a news release, UNC said the game — originally scheduled for 6 p.m. Saturday at the Smith Center — would be played at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Greensboro Coliseum.

The postponement comes after the water system supplying the Chapel Hill campus and surrounding area instructed its 20,000 customers not to drink or use the water because of critically low supplies brought on by a water-main break and the shutdown of a treatment plant. Chapel Hill Mayor Pam Hemminger has declared a state of emergency, while the school canceled classes Friday afternoon as well as the pregame news conference for Tar Heels Coach Roy Williams.

In an email to the Associated Press, UNC spokesman Steve Kirschner said the Tar Heels would spend the night in nearby Durham — home to rival Duke.

Notre Dame spokesman Alan Wasielewski said the team was originally going to fly in late Friday afternoon. Now the Fighting Irish will fly down Saturday morning to Raleigh and then take a bus for the roughly 65-mile drive to Greensboro.

While the Tar Heels will still have a home-state crowd, the building certainly offers positive vibes for the Irish. Notre Dame went through both Duke and UNC to win the 2015 Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament there for the program’s first basketball title in any league.

This is UNC’s second postponement in nine games. Last month, an ice storm led UNC to push its home game against rival North Carolina State back a day.