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ESTERO, Fla. – UTSA along with three other teams that participated in postseason tournaments last season will be among the eight-team field for the 2018 edition of the Gulf Coast Showcase on Nov. 19-30, 2018 in Southwest, Fla., the field and pairings for the tournament were released Thursday by the event's organizer, bd Global (bdglobalsports.com).
In addition to the Roadrunners, which went 20-15 a year ago with a CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament quarterfinal appearance, defending conference champions of the Summit League (South Dakota State) and Atlantic Sun (Florida Gulf Coast), along with Mid-American (Toledo) and Sun Belt (Louisiana) tournament runners-up are among the five 20-win teams in the field, which will feature 12 total games over the three-day event.
The field for the bracketed tournament features:
- Colorado State (Mountain West) – 11-21
- Florida Gulf Coast (Atlantic Sun) – 23-12 (A-Sun regular season champion) | NIT first round
- Louisiana (Sun Belt) – 27-7 (Sun Belt regular season champion) | NIT first round
- South Dakota State (Summit) – 28-7 (Summit League regular season and tournament champion) | NCAA first round
- Toledo (Mid-American) – 23-11 (MAC West Division Champion)
- Tulane (American) – 14-17
- UC Irvine (Big West) – 18-17
- UTSA (Conference USA) – 20-15 | CBI quarterfinal
UTSA is slated to open its time at the event against Big West member UC Irvine. The Anteaters are led by veteran head coach Russell Turner and have advanced to postseason play in five of Turner's eight seasons at the school, including the NCAA Tournament in 2015.
UTSA will then face the winner/loser of South Dakota State and Tulane on Wednesday before closing the tournament out with a matchup against either Louisiana, Colorado State, Toledo or Florida Gulf Coast on Wednesday.
All 12 games will be played at Germain Arena in Estero, Fla., with the teams staying at the Hyatt Regency. The schedule for the opening round of the tournament on Monday, Nov. 19 is as follows:
- 10:00 a.m. CT – South Dakota State vs. Tulane
- 12:30 p.m. CT – UC Irvine vs. UTSA
- 4:00 p.m. CT – Louisiana vs. Colorado State
- 6:30 p.m. CT – Toledo vs. Florida Gulf Coast
Game times for Tuesday and Wednesday will be the same with semifinal games on Nov. 20 at 4 p.m. CT/6:30 p.m. CT. Wednesday's championship game will tip at 6:30 p.m. CT.
Ticket and Fan Travel Information
Tickets for the 2018 Gulf Coast Showcase are on-sale now at GermainArena.com or through Ticketmaster. All-Tournament passes for either the men's tournament or women's tournament are available for $74, $99 or $149 per tournament with single session tickets ranging from $10 General Admission to $45 Courtside for each two-game session. Each day of the tournament will feature an afternoon session (starting at 11 a.m.) and evening session (5 p.m.) and tickets will be good for both games of a given session.
Fan travel information, including preferred hotel rates at the official tournament resort hotel – the Hyatt Regency Coconut Point – is available on GulfCoastShowcase.com.
Campus Games Schedule / Official Name
In addition to the tournament games in Southwest Florida, participating teams will play an additional game at home sites. To comply with the NCAA By-Laws on scheduling, the official title for this year's event is the NIT Tip-Off – Gulf Coast Showcase Regional. The schedule for games at home sites is as follows:
- Nov. 7 – St. Edwards at UTSA
- Nov. 7 – Colorado Christian at Colorado State
- Nov. 9 – Louisiana at Tennessee
- Nov. 10 – Wilberforce at Toledo
- Nov. 12 – Life Pacific at UC Irvine
- Nov. 16 – South Dakota State at FGCU
- Nov. 7 – St. Edwards at UTSA
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