Eastern basketball to open season in Las Vegas tourney

The Eastern Washington University men’s basketball team will play Georgia State and either Prairie View or Eastern Kentucky as part of the fourth-annual MGM Resorts Main Event on Nov. 20-22 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nev.

Ole Miss, Rice, UNLV and Utah comprise the Heavyweight Bracket with Eastern Kentucky, Eastern Washington, Georgia State and Prairie View A&M competing in the Middleweight Bracket.

The Main Event tips off on Monday, Nov. 20 with Eastern Kentucky playing Prairie View A&M at 11 a.m. Pacific time, followed by Eastern Washington taking on Georgia State at 1:30 p.m. Monday evening’s Heavyweight Bracket features UNLV-Rice at 7 p.m. and Utah-Ole Miss at 9:30 p.m.

Two days later on Wednesday, Nov. 22, Eastern will play in either the championship game of the middleweight bracket at 1:30 p.m., or the consolation at 1:30. The heavyweight bracket consolation game is 7 p.m. on ESPNU, and the championship game follows at 9:30 p.m. on ESPN2.

Eastern’s opener will be a battle of 20-win programs from the 2016-17 season, including Eastern’s 22-12 record and third-straight national tournament berth. Georgia State played in the CIT last year and was 20-13, and also finished 16-14 in 2015-16. In the 2014-15 campaign, the Panthers were 25-10 after beating Baylor 57-56 in the NCAA Tournament and then falling to Xavier 75-67. Last season, Eastern Kentucky was 12-19 and Prairie View A&M was 13-20.

Tickets are now on sale via http://www.t-mobilearena.com. The T-Mobile Arena is a new 20,000-seat venue located on the Las Vegas strip. Eastern will also play at UNLV on Nov. 17 and at Utah on Nov. 24 as part of the “undercard games schedule” of the MGM Resorts Main Event.

The remainder of EWU’s 2017-18 non-conference schedule will be announced soon.

 

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