NEWARK — The pandemic has definitely made for some strange situations in sports.

On Saturday, the Delaware men’s basketball team faced an Elon squad that hadn’t played in 27 days because of positive COVID-19 cases in the program.

The Phoenix looked rusty, too.

But Delaware did what it needed to, grabbing a 16-point halftime lead, emptying its bench and cruising to a 66-43 victory over Elon in a CAA contest at the Carpenter Center on Saturday afternoon.

The margin of victory was the largest in a CAA game for the Hens (4-4 CAA, 6-7 overall) since 2006. It was also the fewest points allowed by the Hens against a CAA opponent in the same span.

“It’s definitely nice,” said senior center Dylan Painter, who finished with nine points, 10 rebounds and five assists. “We shot great, we shared the ball, it was just an overall team win. That’s the best way to play, it’s the most fun.”

“We came in locked in today,” said senior guard Kevin Anderson, who contributed 11 points and four assists. “We weren’t too high or too low. We were just ready to play.”

Sophomore guard Ebby Asamoah netted a game-high 14 points for Delaware, which led 36-20 at halftime. He sank 4-of-8 three-pointers.

Ten of the Hens’ 11 players scored in the game, including Odunayo Ogunbo, a walk-on from Delcastle. Delaware shot an even 50 percent compared to the Phoenix (0-3 CAA, 3-4 overall), who hit only 30.5 percent (18-of-59).

“When we went on our pause in early November, there was so much rust when we got back to the court,” said UD coach Martin Ingelsby. “They’re a well-coached team, they’ve got good guards but we just tried to focus on what we could control.”

With the Hens hosting Elon again today at 2 p.m., Delaware has a chance to get back to .500 overall for the first time since they were 3-3. The Hens are also looking for their first sweep of a CAA weekend series this winter.

Since next weekend’s series at Northeastern already being called off because of a virus outbreak with the Huskies, Delaware is looking at a two-week layoff of its own — although Ingelsby did saying picking up a game is a possibility.

But the Hens say the last thing they want to do is take today’s game for granted.

“I’m going to challenge our captains and our older guys that they’ve got to be able to be really mature,” said Ingelsby. “We’ve been in this position where we’ve got the first one but now it’s time for our group to step up and deliver and get another one. It’s really important in conference play to be able to take care of your home court.”

Norfolk State 94, Delaware State 66: The Hornets fell behind by 25 points at halftime before dropping to 0-11 overall.

Delaware State (0-8 MEAC), which lost to the Spartans for the third time this season, were led by 19 points from Myles Carter and 11 from Zach Kent.

The rematch between the two teams, scheduled for today, won’t be played because of the threat of snow.

DSU men add game: Facing the prospect of another nearly two-week break between games, the Delaware State men’s basketball team has added a home game against Division III Lancaster Bible College.

The Hornets are slated to host the Chargers (0-1) on Wednesday at 3 p.m. The game will count in the official record for Delaware State, and as an exhibition for LBC.

WOMEN, Delaware 74, Elon 55: Jasmine Dickey netted 17 of her game-high 25 points in the third quarter as the Blue Hens (9-0 CAA, 12-1 overall) stayed unbeaten in conference.

Delaware trailed by two after the first quarter and led only 34-28 at halftime. Dickey scored just four first-half points after picking up a pair of fouls.

But Delaware out-scored the Phoenix, 24-7, in the third quarter, putting together a 19-2 run between the second and third quarters, to take control.

Dickey registered her 10th 20-point game of the season. With Dickey on the bench, junior Chyna Latimer poured in 10 second-quarter points on her way to a career-high 16.

Latimer went 4-of-8 from three-point range.

Freshman guard Tyi Skinner 10 points, while junior guard Paris McBride dished out a game-high seven assists. Delaware out-rebound Elon, 37-22.

Howard 71, Delaware State 60: The Hornets led only once, early in the MEAC game, before falling to the Bison for the fifth straight time.

Kianna Coomber tallied a team-high 11 points for Delaware State (1-4 MEAC, 2-8 overall), which trailed 32-23 at halftime. Howard (4-1 MEAC, 8-2 overall) never led by more than 12.

The two teams were scheduled to play again today but the game was postponed because of the threat of snow.

Volleyball

Delaware State 3, George Washington 1: The Hornets won the first two sets before taking the match 25-20, 25-22, 23-25, 25-19 to improve to 1-1.

Valeria Otero had 13 kills with Mayah Ngundam adding 10 for DSU. Jelena Dukic had 24 assists and Jasmal Cruz collected 13 digs.