Acrisure Thanksgiving college basketball field set; 21 teams to play 19 games over four days
The first iteration of college basketball taking over Acrisure Arena on Thanksgiving week featured six teams playing five games over three days in 2023. The 2024 version will officially boast 21 teams playing 19 games over four days as the event, now known as the Acrisure Series, has greatly expanded and officially locked in its lineup.
The event runs from Tuesday, Nov. 26 through Friday, Nov. 29 and will include seven women's teams and 14 men's teams. TNT Sports has signed on to be the television partner, though the televised schedule has not been finalized as to which games will be on which network, including TNT, TBS and TruTV.
It will be the largest college basketball tournament in the United States that features men's and women's teams all playing at one site.
"We are excited to have creatively scheduled four full days of high-quality men’s and women’s college basketball at Acrisure Arena,” said co-Tournament Director Dan Shell. “We are very grateful to our partners at Acrisure and Visit Greater Palm Springs who made this event possible, and for TNT Sports for jumping into this with us for the years to come to take this event to the next level. We think the Acrisure series of college basketball events will be among the best holiday events in the country.”
This year's slate includes 10 teams that were in the men's or women's NCAA Tournament last year, and one of the most famous women's collegiate players in JuJu Watkins of USC. In fact, both the Trojans' men's and women's teams will play two games each in the event.
A Trojan fan could watch the USC women on Wednesday, the USC men on Thursday and then the USC women and men on Friday "and still it make it home in time for Saturday's football game against Notre Dame," Shell said.
The format
The event consists of four, four-team mini-tournaments (one women's and three men's ) as well as three "one-off" showcase games (two women's and one men's). There will be five games on Tuesday, five games on Wednesday, four games on Thanksgiving Thursday and five games on Friday.
One ticket allows you to see all the games on that day and tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. (PST) on June 7. They will be available at the Acrisure Arena box office, as well as online at acrisurearena.com and Ticketmaster.com.
The four mini-tournaments will feature pods of four teams and break down like this:
The women's Acrisure Classic: Michigan State vs. Cal and Vanderbilt vs. Arizona on Tuesday; championship and third-place game Wednesday.
The men's Acrisure Holiday Invitational: SMU vs. Cal Baptist and Fresno State vs. Washington State on Tuesday; championship and third-place game Wednesday
The men's Acrisure Invitational: TCU vs. Santa Clara and Washington vs. Colorado State on Thursday; championship and third-place game on Friday
The men's Acrisure Classic: USC vs. Saint Mary's and New Mexico vs. Arizona State on Thursday; championship and third-place game on Friday.
And the three "single" games will be a men's game between Stanford and Grand Canyon on Tuesday, and then a pair of games featuring the sure-to-be top-5 ranked and explosive USC women's basketball team. On Wednesday USC will play Seton Hall and on Friday USC will play Saint Louis.
All the games will take place at Acrisure Arena, a new venue that opened in December of 2022. It seats around 11,000 fans for basketball games and is located in Palm Desert, California near Palm Springs and part of the Coachella Valley.
"Sponsoring the Acrisure Series is a testament to our commitment to excellence and community engagement,” said Acrisure’s chairman and CEO Greg Williams. “We are thrilled to see the tournament expand in 2024, bringing fans from across the country to Acrisure Arena for an unforgettable celebration of top-tier college basketball. We are proud to play a hand in creating and growing this premier event on the basketball calendar.”
Last year's college basketball series at Acrisure Arena was showcased by a game between perennial powers Arizona and Michigan State (won 74-68 by Arizona) and drew record-breaking TV ratings. That was paired with a four-team tournament that ran Friday and Saturday which featured Arkansas State, Hawaii, UT Rio Grand Valley and San Diego (won by Hawaii).
Shell said this will continue to be an annual event, adding that there are already eight teams signed up for the 2025 version, and that the consistency of the three main sponsors Acrisure, Visit Greater Palm Springs and Spotlight 29 Casino has made that possible.
"This is definitely an annual event," Shell said. "The number of teams and the format may change from year to year, but there will continue to be college basketball at Acrisure Arena on Thanksgiving week moving forward. Putting it together each year is like a Rubik's Cube, but it's something that we're excited about and proud of."
The schedule
TUESDAY, NOV. 26 GAMES
10:30 a.m.: Cal vs. Michigan State (women)
1 p.m.: Vanderbilt vs. Arizona (women)
3:30 p.m.: SMU vs. Cal Baptist (men)
6 p.m.: Fresno State vs. Washington State (men)
8:30 p.m.: Grand Canyon vs. Stanford (men)
WEDNESDAY, NOV. 27 GAMES
10:30 a.m.: Cal/Michigan State loser vs. Vanderbilt/Arizona loser (women - third-place)
1 p.m.: Cal/Michigan State winner vs. Vanderbilt/Arizona winner (women - Championship)
3:30 p.m.: USC vs. Seton Hall (women)
6 p.m.: SMU/Cal Baptist loser vs. Fresno St./Washington St. loser (men - third-place)
8:30 p.m.: SMU/Cal Baptist winner vs. Fresno St./Washington St. winner (men - championship)
THURSDAY, NOV. 28 GAMES
1 p.m.: TCU vs. Santa Clara (men)
3:30 p.m.: Washington vs. Colorado State (men)
6 p.m.: USC vs. Saint Mary's (men)
8:30 p.m.: New Mexico vs. Arizona State (men)
FRIDAY, NOV. 29 GAMES
10:30 a.m.: TCU/Santa Clara loser vs. Washington/Colorado St. loser (men - third-place)
1 p.m.: TCU/Santa Clara winner vs. Washington/Colorado State winner (men - championship)
3:30 p.m.: USC vs. Saint Louis (women)
6 p.m.: USC/Saint Mary's loser vs. New Mexico/Arizona St. loser (men - third-place)
8:30 p.m.: USC/Saint Mary's winner v.s New Mexico/Arizona State winner (men - championship)
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Acrisure Arena to host 21 college basketball teams over Thanksgiving
