UConn men’s basketball will get things started at the Maui Invitational tournament this fall.
The reigning back-to-back national champions drew the early slate for the first round in the eight-team bracket that was announced Tuesday morning. UConn and Memphis will be the first to take the floor at the historic Lahaina Civic Center in Maui, at 2:30 p.m. Eastern time, 9:30 a.m. in Maui, on Nov. 25.
The annual tournament, in its 41st year, is moving back to Maui after it was hosted in O’ahu last season because of the Maui wildfires. It will be UConn’s fifth appearance.
Looking for their third Maui Invitational title, the Huskies would move on to meet the winner of the next game between Colorado and Michigan State should they get past Penny Hardaway’s Tigers. Matchups between Auburn and Iowa State, and Dayton and North Carolina, are set for the first round on the other side of the bracket.
UConn beat Gonzaga to win the 2005 Maui Invitational and then claimed its second championship in the event after beating Kentucky in 2010.
The Huskies are 8-8 all-time against their old American Athletic Conference foes, most recently snapping a four-game losing skid to the Tigers with a thrilling 64-61 victory in the XL Center in February, 2020, about a month before the pandemic shut down the season.
In addition to the three games in Maui, UConn has also announced non conference games against Baylor (Dec. 5, Big East-Big 12 Battle), Texas (Dec. 8) and Gonzaga (Dec. 14 in Madison Square Garden).
The rest of the non conference schedule is expected to be announced before the end of August.
