PROVO — BYU’s men’s basketball team will renew acquaintances with an old Western Athletic Conference rival in December.
The Cougars announced Wednesday they will play in the third annual Jerry Colangelo Classic on Dec. 19 against Arizona State at the Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix, not far from the Sun Devils’ home court in Tempe, Arizona.
“This is going to be a great event for college basketball fans. We’re really excited about the opportunity to play at a great venue against a great program in Arizona State. But we’re even more excited to play in an area that is a hotbed of BYU fans. We have great fans all over the country and we can’t wait to play in front of Cougar fans in Arizona.” — BYU basketball coach Mark Pope
The matchup presented by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame will be part of a one-day quadrupleheader that will also feature three other West Coast Conference teams. Gonzaga will meet Texas Tech in a game to be televised by CBS Sports, San Francisco will meet Grand Canyon and San Diego will meet Northern Arizona.
“We think this will be a great opportunity for college basketball fans to come out and enjoy the wonderful desert climate this holiday season, while taking in four games at the freshly renovated Talking Stick Resort Arena,” said John L. Doleva, president and CEO of the Basketball Hall of Fame.
Arizona State has posted three straight 20-win seasons under coach Bobby Hurley, who enters his sixth year at ASU in 2020-21. ASU made the NCAA tournament in back-to-back seasons in 2018 and 2019 for the first time since 1980-81 and was looking at a third straight trip in 2020 for the first time since the 1960s.
Ticket information, game times and additional television broadcast details will be released at a later date.
“This is going to be a great event for college basketball fans. We’re really excited about the opportunity to play at a great venue against a great program in Arizona State. But we’re even more excited to play in an area that is a hotbed of BYU fans. We have great fans all over the country and we can’t wait to play in front of Cougar fans in Arizona,” BYU coach Mark Pope said in a school news release.
ASU’s Hurley said the game matches two teams that would have been in the NCAA tournament last March if it hadn’t been canceled by the coronavirus pandemic.
“We always want to schedule great neutral site games in NBA arenas against great competition and that is what this game allows,” Hurley said. “Playing in downtown Phoenix, where ASU has made such a great impact, is a natural for us.”
In January, BYU announced it will play in the 2020 Junkanoo Jam in the Bahamas in November. The Cougars will play George Mason, Tulsa and Boston College in a round-robin tournament on the island of Bimini from Nov. 17-21.
BYU has home nonconference games scheduled against Utah Valley, Boise State and Utah.
It has nonconference road games scheduled at Utah State and Weber State.