Aug. 4, 2009
The George Mason men's basketball team will face 2009 Final Four participant Villanova in the opening round of the ESPN Puerto Rico Tip-Off in a nationally-televised contest as the Patriots and Wildcats will clash on Thursday, Nov. 19 at 2 p.m. on ESPNU. All the tournament's games will be played at Coliseo de Puerto Rico in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
The Patriots will face either Georgia Tech or Dayton in the second round of the tournament on Friday, Nov. 20. The Yellow Jackets and Flyers will play at 11:30 a.m. on the 19th with the winner facing the winner of Mason's game at 3 p.m. on the 20th on ESPNU. The losers of those two contests will play at 1 p.m. on the 20th, also on ESPNU. Mason and Dayton are already scheduled to play in the regular season with that contest coming at Patriot Center on Tuesday, December 8.
"All of ESPN's exempt events are run in a first-class manner and the competition is always at the highest level," said Mason head coach Jim Larranaga. "Playing Villanova in the first round will give us the opportunity to play one of the highest-ranking opponents any George Mason team has ever faced in the regular season. We anticipate them being in the top five in the country after their Final Four appearance. We look forward not only to competing with Villanova but with the other great teams from the BCS conferences as well as the Atlantic 10 and America East."
The four other teams competing in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off are Boston University, Indiana, Kansas State and Ole Miss. Mason will play one of those four teams on Sunday, Nov. 22 in the final round of the tournament. That game will be televised either on ESPNU or ESPN2.
Mason and Villanova last played each other in a different ESPN event when they faced off in the second round of the Old Spice Classic in 2007 in Orlando, Fla. Villanova, ranked 20th in the nation at the time, won that game 84-76. Mason was 2-1 at the Old Spice Classic, beating 18th-ranked Kansas State and South Carolina. Mason played at Dayton last year, falling to the Flyers, 66-62. The Patriots are 0-3 all-time against Villanova and 1-1 all-time against Dayton.. The Patriots have never faced Georgia Tech. Mason is 1-1 all-time against Mississippi, 2-2 against Boston University, 0-1 against Indiana and 1-0 against Kansas State.
