Southern Mississippi has self-imposed a postseason ban for the current basketball season because of an ongoing NCAA inquiry into the program.
The university said in a statement Tuesday that the program will not play in the Conference USA postseason tournament or make itself eligible for NCAA tournament consideration. The statement said the ban is a "result of an ongoing university and NCAA inquiry of the basketball program related to the 2012-13 and 2013-14 academic years."
Donnie Tyndall was the coach at Southern Miss the past two seasons, but left to take over at Tennessee. Southern Miss acknowledged in November that the NCAA was investigating potential violations in the program.
"All I can say is I've cooperated 100 percent and if I need to, I will continue to do that," Tyndall said after Tennessee's 66-62 win at South Carolina on Tuesday night. "That's all I can say on that matter."
Southern Miss (5-11, 0-5 C-USA), which is currently led by Doc Sadler, is in the midst of an eight-game losing streak.
The program's coaches and players were informed of the decision on Tuesday.
Sadler said during his regular Tuesday radio show that the team did not practice after the discussion "because of injuries," but did watch film in preparation for Thursday's game against Rice.
"Are we disappointed? I think everyone is. There's no question about it," Sadler said. "I know our administration is disappointed, along with the coaches, the fans and the players. But we're going to deal with this, meet it head on and we're going to be better because of it."
