Latest news with #CancunChallenge
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Tournament tracker: MVC basketball teams headed to regular-season tournaments
Scheduling for the 2025-26 college basketball season is well under way. Among those games are annual exempt multi-team events — regular-season tournaments — for which the NCAA has defined rules. Here is a tracker for what tournaments the Missouri Valley Conference's 11 teams have joined for the 2025-26 season, as of Saturday, May 31, 2025. It will be updated as new information becomes available. Bradley Bradley will play in the Terry's Chocolate ESPN Events Invitational in the Orlando area Nov. 24-26 in the three-game Adventure Bracket. The field includes Bradley, Towson, Temple, Princeton, Rhode Island, Vermont, UC San Diego and Liberty. Advertisement The Bradley Braves are 23-13 in such tournament play under coach Brian Wardle, and have won championships in the Cancun Challenge (2018), Don Haskins Sunbowl Invitational (2021), SoCal Challenge (2023) and Myrtle Beach Classic (2024). Evansville is in the U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam on Nov. 21-24. The field includes Evansville, Akron, Charleston, Green Bay, Iona, Oregon State, U-Mass and Yale. Evansville opens with a game against Oregon State on Nov. 21. Murray State Murray State is in the Cayman Islands Classic on Nov. 23-25. The format is three games, and the field includes Murray State, George Washington, McNeese State, Middle Tennessee State and four more teams as yet unannounced. Northern Iowa Northern Iowa in the Acrisure Series in Palm Desert, Calif. on Nov. 25-28. The 21-team field shows Northern Iowa, Cal Baptist, Grand Canyon, Colorado, Iowa, Loyola Chicago, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, Saint Louis, San Diego, San Jose State, Santa Clara, Stanford, Tulsa, Pepperdine, San Francisco, Fresno, Ole Miss, Utah and Washington. Tournament format is undetermined at this time. Advertisement For subscribers: Opt outs and Bradley's NIL collective in the NCAA portal era Illinois State Illinois State in the Terry's Chocolate ESPN Events Invitational in the Orlando area on Nov. 27-28. The Redbirds are part of the Imagination Bracket, which will be a two-game format. The field includes Illinois State, Charlotte, Richmond and Furman. Drake is in the Emerald Coast Classic at Destin, Fla. on Nov. 28-29. It's a two-game format. The field includes Drake, DePaul, Georgia Tech and LSU. MVC teams without a tournament As of May 31, Belmont, Indiana State, Southern Illinois, Illinois-Chicago and Valparaiso do not have a multi-team tournament scheduled. Advertisement Dave Eminian is the Journal Star sports columnist, and covers Bradley men's basketball, the Rivermen and Chiefs. He writes the Cleve In The Eve sports column for He can be reached at 686-3206 or deminian@ Follow him on @icetimecleve. This article originally appeared on Journal Star: MVC basketball: Tracking 2025 regular-season tournaments in Valley
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
SDSU women to play Gonzaga at Pentagon
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (SDSU) — The South Dakota State women's basketball team will take on the Gonzaga Bulldogs in a nonconference contest November 20 at the Sanford Pentagon. The on-sale date for tickets will be announced later. 'This is a resume-building matchup that is going to stand out on the schedule for both teams,' said Jesse Smith, vice president of operations for Sanford Sports. 'The energy in the Sanford Pentagon always rises when the Jackrabbits play here, and Gonzaga is a national brand with a passionate fan base.' The Jackrabbits won the Summit League Championship last season and received a No. 10 seed in the 2024 NCAA Tournament. SDSU defeated No. 7 seed Oklahoma State 74-68, before falling to eventual national champion Connecticut in the second round. The Jackrabbits are 1-2 all-time at the Sanford Pentagon. 'We are excited to return to the Pentagon next season. The Pentagon is a terrific facility, and the staff provides a first-class experience,' said South Dakota State Head Coach Aaron Johnston. 'Gonzaga has a strong tradition of success and will be a great early-season test for the Jackrabbits.' Gonzaga won the West Coast Conference regular season title for the 20th time last season, finishing with a 24-11 record. They advanced to the quarterfinals of the WBIT Tournament, where they fell to eventual champion Minnesota. The Bulldogs are 1-1 all-time at the Sanford Pentagon. They defeated South Dakota 54-50 and lost to No. 1 South Carolina 79-72 during the 2-day 2020 Bad Boy Mowers Crossover Classic. 'The Sanford Pentagon is a great facility and always puts on high level events,' said Gonzaga Head Coach Lisa Fortier. 'We have a ton of respect for the South Dakota State program and always look forward to playing quality teams in our non-conference schedule. This should be a very fun, early season game.' South Dakota State leads the all-time series 3-1. Their last meeting was on Dec. 17, 2023, an 83-58 victory by the No. 14 Bulldogs. In addition to this meeting with Gonzaga, the Jackrabbits have also announced plans to play at the Cancun Challenge over Thanksgiving. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Indianapolis Star
01-05-2025
- Sport
- Indianapolis Star
Purdue women's basketball Big Ten schedule opponents, newcomers, returners
The Boilermakers remade their roster and will face a former teammate as part of the Big Ten slate. WEST LAFAYETTE ― Purdue women's basketball 's Big Ten schedule for the 2025-26 season was released Wednesday. The Boilermakers went 10-19 (3-15 Big Ten) last year, failing to make the conference tournament. It's a conference Purdue has not won since 2013. Here's a look at Purdue's Big Ten Conference opponents: Home opponents: Iowa, Michigan State, Oregon, Washington, Illinois, Rutgers, Ohio State, Penn State Road opponents: Maryland, UCLA, Michigan, USC, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Northwestern, Minnesota Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle. Home and away: Indiana Back to high school: North Central girls basketball's new coach was 4-year starter at Purdue, coached in college Highlights include Purdue playing UCLA at Pauley Pavilion for the first time, as well as its first trip to the Galen Center to face USC. Among other key games to watch at Mackey Arena will be Michigan State, which features former Boilermaker Rashunda Jones. A nonconference stretch to watch for Purdue will be playing in the Cancun Challenge at the Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya in Mexico from Nov. 27-29. The full field has yet to be been announced. Purdue women's basketball roster, returners, new additions Purdue returns sophomore forwards Kendall Puryear and Lana McCarthy, guard McKenna Layden and fifth-year guard Madison Layden-Zay. Layden-Zay needs 38 total makes to surpass 2021 graduate Karissa McLaughlin and become the program's career leader in 3-point field goals. Purdue transfer additions include former Northern Arizona guard and incoming senior Taylor Feldman, former Arkansas guard and 2024 NJCAA National Player of the Year and national champion Kiki Smith, and former UNC Greensboro guard Nya Smith. The Boilermakers also maintained 4-star recruit commitments from 6-foot-6 center Avery Gordon, an Indiana All-Star and ranked 63rd in the ESPN 2025 HoopGurlz national rankings, plus guard Keona Douwstra of Netherlands.
Boston Globe
20-03-2025
- Sport
- Boston Globe
Harvard women's basketball coach Carrie Moore had her team play a tough schedule, and it paid off
Crimson coach Carrie Moore said she wanted to establish a tough schedule. She set the tone by accepting an invitation to play in the Cancun Challenge in 2022, with the Big Ten's Purdue, the Big 12′s Oklahoma State, and the ACC's Florida State in the field. Advertisement 'That was one of the first decisions I made being the head coach here,' she said. 'We could have gone to one tournament and played all three mid-majors. The other option was they were reaching out for us to go to Cancun and play in that tournament and we would play three straight games and it was all P4 opponents. And I said, of course, we're going to Cancun. There's no other no other option. Since then we've always wanted to schedule in that way.' Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up The Crimson also have to build a schedule around the rigors of Ivy League academia. 'Our girls can only miss so many class days,' Moore said. 'We can only travel on certain days or certain times throughout the year. So there's a lot that goes into it. We reach out to a lot of teams and the answer that we get a lot of times is, 'No, we don't wanna play you.' So then you're backtracking because you're trying to find games and trying to stay within all of these parameters, but it's difficult.' This year, the Crimson traveled to Bloomington, Ind., to play No. 25 Indiana two games into the season. They came back and took a loss at Quinnipiac, which finished 28-4. They went on the road to play Northwestern, Illinois State, Stony Brook, and St. John's. Add that to their regional games against UMass, Boston University, Boston College, Maine and Rhode Island, plus their slate in an Ivy League that was as competitive as it's ever been, and the Crimson had a schedule that the committee couldn't overlook. Advertisement 'We have to schedule that way in order to just be in the conversation,' It worked. The Crimson were in the NET rankings' top 50 for most of the season. They finished 34th. The Crimson earned the 10th seed in the Spokane bracket, the highest seeding of Harvard's seven tournament appearances. The highest any Ivy team has been seeded is eighth (Princeton, 2015). The 10th seed is 48-120 all time in the dance. The best finish by a 10 seed was Oregon's run to the Elite Eight in 2017. Moore said she wants to have a program that embraces playing the best competition, knowing the benefits in the long run. 'If you guys knew all the crazy stuff that goes into scheduling …' Moore said. 'It's actually pretty wild. We've always wanted to schedule competitively coming here. I think that's just me as a natural competitor. I want to play good teams. And from a recruiting standpoint, too, you want to recruit players that want to play a tough schedule and want to play great teams.' History repeat The Crimson made history in 1998 when they stunned Stanford in the first round, becoming the first 16 seed to upset a No. 1 seed. Crimson star guard Harmoni Turner said she's watched that game at least six times. Moore said it might not be a bad idea to sit the entire team down and watch that moment in Harvard history again. Advertisement Moore is big on visualization. Throughout the season, she's had her players imagine themselves in moments before they happen or relive scenarios before they head into games. Before they faced Columbia on the road in February, they rewatched their win over No. 25 Indiana, then beat Columbia. Before they faced Princeton in the Ivy tournament opener, she had them rewatch their road win over St. John's, then they came from behind to beat Princeton. The Crimson might draw some inspiration from seeing Allison Feaster drop 35 points on Stanford. And the full game is only a YouTube dive away. 'I really feel like that could be a great one to watch,' Moore said. Honorable mention Turner was an Associated Press All-America honorable mention. She became just the second Crimson women's basketball player to earn the honor … If the Crimson advance, they'll face the winner between second-seeded N.C. State (26-6) and 15th-seeded Vermont (21-12). As the host for the first two rounds, N.C. State essentially will be playing a home game. Vermont, which won its eighth America East title, is back in the tournament for the second time in the past three seasons … This is Moore's first trip to the tournament as a head coach, but she's accumulated plenty of experience as an assistant. She went three times as an assistant at Creighton, three times with Princeton, and once with North Carolina and was part of Michigan's Elite Eight run in 2022. Julian Benbow can be reached at
Yahoo
23-02-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
How to watch No. 3 UCLA vs. Iowa: Live stream info for Big Ten women's college basketball game
No. 3 UCLA hits the road to play Iowa today at 2 p.m. ET at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. This is the first time the pair is officially meeting since the Bruins joined the Big Ten conference in August 2024. The two teams last met when they played a neutral-site game in 2016 at the Cancun Challenge, where the Bruins came out on top, 78-65. Both teams first played each other back in 1990, which Iowa won 81-52. Read on for all the information on how to live stream the game and how to follow college basketball on Peacock all season long. UCLA's 23-game winning streak ended on February 13 after a 71-60 loss to No. 1 USC. However, the Bruins are coming off back-to-back wins after a 75-69 victory over Michigan State on February 16 and a 70-55 win on Thursday over No. 25 Illinois. The Bruins were named the No.1 overall seed in the DI Women's Basketball Committee's first Top 16 reveal a week ago and have two games left in the regular season after they play the Hawkeyes —February 26 at Wisconsin and a March 1 rematch vs No. 4 USC at home. Currently, both UCLA (conf. 13-1) and USC (conf. 14-1) are tied in the Big Ten standings with one conference loss. Star junior center Lauren Betts posted 22 points, 7 rebounds and 6 blocks in the Bruins' win over Illinois, returning from her one-game absence due to a foot injury. She also broke the program record for blocks in a single season after finishing the game with six blocks, bringing her season total to 67 overall. Betts is second in the Big Ten in scoring (19.7 pts/gm) and third in Big Ten in rebounding (9.7 reb/gm). In the fourth quarter vs Illinois, junior guard Kiki Rice scored 10 of her 16 points. Rice put up five rebounds, four assists and two blocks in the win. Graduate student forward Angela Dugalić also contributed double digits on Thursday with 10 points, eight rebounds and four assists. She's averaging 7.8 points per game in the regular season. RELATED: Big Ten women's Bracketology - UCLA still holds edge over USC per committee's top 16 The Hawkeyes are coming off an 86-78 OT loss to No. 8 Ohio State on Monday. They rallied from 12 points down (69-57) with 1:38 left in regulation to force overtime at 74-74, but were outscored 12-4 in OT. After they face UCLA at home, they have two regular season games left — a February 26 matchup at Michigan and a March 2 contest vs Wisconsin. Iowa is 8-7 in conference play this season. Senior guard Lucy Olsen led Iowa with 27 points against Ohio State. She scored 11 points (three, back-to-back-to-back 3-pointers and two FT) during Iowa's 17-5 run to close regulation and force OT. Olsen — who transferred to Iowa this season after a 3-year run at Villanova — is leading the Hawkeyes in points per game (17.8 pts/gm), assists (5.1 ast/gm) and minutes (34.3) this season. Senior guard Sydney Affolter is ranked sixth in the Big Ten for average rebounds, with 8.7, just under UCLA's Lauren Bett's 9.1 reb/gm. She snagged 15 total rebounds when the Hawkeyes took on Ohio State. Iowa senior F/C Addison O'Grady knows UCLA's Lauren Betts well — the two were high school teammates at Grandview High School in Aurora, CO. O'Grady and Betts played together for three seasons — O'Grady graduated in 2021, Betts in 2022. Sunday's game will be the first time they've shared the court since high school. Ahead of the matchup O'Grady said: 'For me not to be the tallest girl on my high school basketball team is kind of crazy - not to be the tallest girl in my high school even [O'Grady is 6'4, Betts is 6'7] … And then playing basketball together was just crazy. Who has two (6'4) plus people on their team? (Sunday) might bring me back to high school days, now that I'm a (college) senior especially. It'll be such a weird and really fun reunion." When: Sunday, February 23 Where: Carver-Hawkeye Arena, Iowa City, Iowa Time: 2 PM ET Live Stream: Peacock You can watch Big Ten basketball games by first subscribing to Peacock. Then, either go to in your web browser or download the Peacock app on your phone, tablet, or streaming device and navigate to the Sports section. Find the LIVE game you want to watch and start streaming. Peacock will stream 56 men's basketball games and 26 women's basketball games across the 2024-2025 season. Peacock subscribers will also get the first rounds of both the Big Ten Men's & Women's tournament live. You can enjoy Peacock on a variety of devices. View the full list of supported devices here.
