Gators to face Xavier in Phil Knight Legacy tournament

On3 imageby:Pat O'Donnell07/25/22

patodonnell22_

The Florida Gators men’s basketball team will tip off the Phil Knight Legacy event against Xavier on Thanksgiving Day, ESPN announced Monday.

The game will be played at 5:30 p.m. ET at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland, Oregon. It will be televised on ESPN2.

The Gators competed in the PK80 event in 2017, where they fell short of Duke in the championship game. Florida guards KeVaughn Allen, Chris Chiozza and Jalen Hudson made the All-Tournament team.

The matchup will feature Florida head coach Todd Golden and Xavier head coach Sean Miller, who are both in their first seasons as head coach with their new teams.

UF is 2-3 all time against the Musketeers and most recently fell to the Musketeers in the second round of the 2022 National Invitational Tournament by a score of 72-56. Xavier went onto the NIT.

The Gators’ path

If Florida takes down Xavier in the first round of the tournament, it will face the winner of Duke and Oregon State the following day in the semifinal. The semifinal will be played at 3 p.m. on Nov. 25 on ESPN at the Moda Center.

If the Gators fall in the first round, it will play a consolation game against the loser of Duke and Oregon State on Nov. 25 at 3:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2 or ESPNU.

The championship game will be televised on ABC at 3:30 p.m. ET on Nov. 27 at the Moda Center. The third-place, fifth-place and seventh-place games will be played throughout that day as well.

The other side of the bracket consists of Purdue, West Virginia, Portland State and Gonzaga. The Gators will face off against one of those teams on Nov. 27 in a placement game.

Here is the full bracket:

Single session tickets go on sale for the event on Friday, but Moda Championships Packages are already on sale.

You may also like