UCI faces Bulldogs in Anaheim Classic

The UC Irvine men’s basketball team will play host to Mississippi State in the opening game of the inaugural Anaheim Classic, an eight-team tournament held Nov. 22-25 at the Anaheim Convention Center.

UCI’s second opponent in the eight-team tournament will be either Southern Illinois or Tennessee Chatanooga.

The remainder of the tournament, for which pairings were announced Thursday at the ESPN Zone in Anaheim, features USC, San Diego, Miami of Ohio and South Alabama.

All 12 tournament games will be televised on either ESPN2 or ESPNU.

“To get the exposure you need as a mid-major is very difficult,” UCI Coach Pat Douglass said at Thursday’s announcement. “We’ve had to sell our soul to go play a lot of teams [on the road]. To be able to come up here and play three games in four days on a neutral court, is kind of unheard of for a mid-major program.”

The tournament, which counts as only one game on the schedule for all eight teams, will mean the Anteaters will play their first six games in Orange County.

After a Nov. 6 exhibition against Cal Baptist at Crawford Court, Douglass’ squad will have home games against Loyola Marymount (Nov. 9 at Crawford Court), Nevada (Nov. 13 at the Anaheim Convention Center) and Utah State (Nov. 17 at the Bren Events Center, which is unavailable until then while undergoing installation of a new floor).

The Mississippi State game is scheduled for 11 a.m.

The tournament, created by ESPN regional television executives in association with the Big West Conference, will become an annual event, according to Pete Dezris, senior vice president of ESPN regional television.

Dezris said a different team from the Big West and Pac-10 would represent their conferences in the event the first four years. By rule, the same team can compete in the tournament only once every four years.

Cal State Fullerton will represent the Big West in next year’s tournament, followed by Long Beach State in 2009, Dezris said.

Dezris said Arizona State would represent the Pac-10 next season. He said Arizona has committed to play in the tournament in 2011 and that UCLA is considering taking part, though no commitment has been reached.

Mississippi State is coming off a 21-14 season in which it shared the Southeastern Conference Western Division title and advanced to the semifinals of the NIT.

The Bulldogs return their top two scorers, both of whom tested the NBA draft waters after last season.

Jamont Gordon is a 6-foot-4 junior guard who averaged 16 points, 7.1 rebounds and 5.3 assists, while Charles Rhoades, a 6-8 senior forward, averaged 13.7 points and 6.2 rebounds. Gordon earned first-team all-conference honors last season while Rhoades is a two-time second-team All-SEC performer.

Southern Illinois, as well as USC, advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament last season.

USC meets San Diego in its tournament opener, while Miami of Ohio, which also qualified for the NCAA Tournament last season, opens against South Alabama.

“I know the coaches in our conference have said, ‘A basket here or there and we’re just as good as any other team,’ ” Douglass said. “So now, we’ll get this opportunity to prove what our players can do.”

UCI, 15-18 last season, defeated SEC representative South Carolina, 67-52, at the Bren Center last November.

The Anteaters return starters Patrick Sanders (11.9 points and 5.3 rebounds per game), Darren Fells (10.2 ppg, 6.1 rpg), Chuma Awaji (7.9 ppg) and Michael Hunter (6.8 ppg, 2.4 assists per game), and also welcome 6-8 junior Kevin Bland, the 2005-06 Northern California Community College Player of the Year at San Joaquin Delta, who redshirted last season.

Tickets ($75 for all tournament games and $15 for a single two-game session) are on sale now through TicketMaster. Tickets are also available at the Anaheim Convention Center box office.

Tournament information is available at www.anaheimclassic.com.

BARRY FAULKNER may be reached at (714) 966-4615 or at [email protected].