Gonzaga’s first game at the Players Era Festival now comes with a late-night start.
The Bulldogs will face Kansas State in the tournament’s nightcap on Nov. 24, with tipoff set for 9:30 p.m. at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. That matchup closes out the opening day of the Thanksgiving week event, which features 16 programs from the Pac-12, SEC, ACC, Big Ten and Big 12.
Every Players Era game will be carried on the ESPN family of networks after the tournament reached a multi-year agreement with the company earlier this year. Specific TV assignments for the opening-round games still haven’t been announced.
The Gonzaga-Kansas State winner moves on to play the winner of Baylor and Alabama on Nov. 26 at T-Mobile Arena. From there, Gonzaga could draw one of four teams - TCU, Miami, Creighton or Michigan - in its third game on Nov. 27, also at T-Mobile.
The tournament’s two 3-0 teams will meet in the championship game on Nov. 28 at Michelob Ultra Arena. Everyone else will wrap up their trip after the third game in Las Vegas.
Gonzaga reached last year’s championship game by beating Alabama and Maryland before taking a 40-point loss to eventual national champion Michigan.
The Zags have dropped in most way-too-early preseason Top 25 polls since the abrupt departure of starting point guard Mario Saint-Supery, but Mark Few’s team should still be favored in its Players Era opener against a Kansas State squad that is not in the preseason rankings.
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For the Bulldogs, the timing is obvious. If that eligibility path holds, it could open the door to veteran point guards who already know how to handle high-major pressure, including names like Moe Odum and Calmese, both of whom would bring experience Gonzaga could use in a hurry. The catch is that the new market is still developing, and the best fit may depend on how many of those older guards actually decide to take one more college season. [Read more 🡒]
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