(photo courtesy USVI Department of Tourism)

This November, the George Mason men's basketball team will head to the islands as part of the 2012 Paradise Jam. The tournament field, which was announced by Basketball Travelers, Inc., Wednesday, will feature eight teams in the 13th annual event to be held at the University of the Virgin Islands in St. Thomas.

Joining the Patriots in the field are Connecticut (BIG EAST), Wake Forest (ACC), New Mexico (Mountain West), Mercer (Atlantic Sun), UIC (Horizon), Quinnipiac (Northeast), and Iona (MAAC).

George Mason will kick off tournament play on Friday, November 16 at 3:30 p.m. ET when it takes on the Mercer Bears in the opening game. Ranking 23rd in the final CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 rankings, Mercer is coming off a record-setting 27-win season which included the CollegeInsider.com Tournament championship title.

The Bears, who fell in the semifinals of the Atlantic Sun Tournament to Florida Gulf Coast, own the nation's second-longest active win streak of six games. Mercer finished second in the A-Sun regular season standings with a 13-5 mark last year, and was led by All-Atlantic Sun first team selection Langston Hall. Hall, a rising junior, averaged 11.4 points and 4.2 assists per game.

"We are looking forward to our appearance in the Paradise Jam which has an outstanding field," said head coach Paul Hewitt. "We open up with a team coming off an outstanding year in the Mercer Bears. This will be just another challenging game in what I think will be an outstanding non-conference schedule."

With a win over the Bears, Mason will face the victor of the UIC-New Mexico game at 8:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, November 18, with that game's victor scheduled to play against the top finisher out of the lower bracket on Monday, November 19 at 11:00 p.m. ET in the championship game. The full bracket can be found here.

This will be the first-ever meeting between Mason and Mercer, and the Patriots are a combined 3-2 against the field with two wins over Iona and the Elite Eight victory over UConn in 2006. Mason is 0-1 against Wake Forest and New Mexico, and has never faced Quinnipiac or UIC.

Games in the USVI will be played at the state-of-the-art University of the Virgin Islands Sports and Fitness Center in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas.  Television and online streaming schedules will be released later this year. 

For the latest updates and information leading up to and during the tournament please follow the Paradise Jam on Facebook and on Twitter.  More information on the 2012 Paradise Jam can also be found by visiting the tournament website.

George Mason's full non-conference schedule will be released at a later date.