ATLANTA — The Georgia Tech men’s basketball team will face Massachusetts in the Dec. 21 opening round of the 2023 Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic in Honolulu, Hawai’i.
The teams will play their opening-round matchup at 9 p.m. Eastern time on ESPN2.
ESPN events and the Diamond Head Classic announced the full bracket for the holiday tournament on Tuesday. The Yellow Jackets are competing in the tournament for the second time in four years.
The 14th annual event will take place Dec. 21, 22 and 24 at SimpliFi Arena at the Stan Sheriff Center, with each of the eight teams playing three games.
The Jackets (15-18, 6-12 ACC in 2022-23) and the Minutemen (15-16, 6-12 Atlantic-10) will face each other for just the second time in program history. The teams met in the 1995 Jimmy V Classic in East Rutherford, N.J., with No. 2-ranked UMass defeating No. 21 Tech, 75-67.
Also in the first round on Dec. 21, Nevada (22-11, 12-6 Mountain West) will play Temple (16-16, 10-8 American Athletic) at 3 p.m. ET, followed by TCU (22-13, 9-9 Big 12 Conference) vs. Old Dominion (19-12, 11-7 Sun Belt) at 5 p.m., both games airing on ESPNU. Tech and UMass meet at 9 p.m. ET, followed by Portland (14-19, 5-11 West Coast Conference) taking on Hawai’i (22-11, 13-7 Big West) at 11 p.m., both games on ESPN2.
Semifinal games on consolation bracket games will take place between 5 p.m. and 1 a.m. ET on Dec. 22, televised on ESPNU and ESPN2. Final-round games will be played Dec. 24 beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET (seventh-place and fifth-place games on ESPNU) through the championship game at 8:30 p.m. ET (third place and championship games on ESPN2).
The Yellow Jackets participated in the tournament in 2019, earning a third-place finish after defeating Boise State and Hawai’i sandwiched around a loss to Houston. Tech posted a 15-18 overall record in 2022-23, 6-14 in the ACC.
Tech has a 12-6 record all time in five previous tournament events in Hawai’i, including a 2-1 slate in the 2019 Diamond Head Classic and a 6-3 mark in three appearances in the old Rainbow Classic – 1984 (champion), 1988 and 1994 – which also were hosted by the University of Hawai’i. The Yellow Jackets also played in the 1998 Big Island Classic in Hilo, and the 2006 Maui Invitational, finishing as the runner-up in both events.
“We’re excited to be a part of Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic, excited for a great opportunity to compete against high-caliber opposition, and to enjoy some Hawaiian hospitality,” said first-year head coach Damon Stoudamire. “As we work to elevate our program, this is an excellent way to face some very good teams to help prepare us for the Atlantic Coast Conference season.”
Previous tournament champions of the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic include USC (2009, 2017), Butler (2010), Kansas State (2011), Arizona (2012), Iowa State (2013), George Washington (2014), Oklahoma (2015), San Diego State (2016), TCU (2018), Houston (2019), Vanderbilt (2021) and Hawaii (2022).
Tickets are expected to go on sale in October.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2023/8/1198285/tech-to-face-umass-in-diamond-head-classic