USF Basketball to play in Hall of Fame Tip-Off Tournament

The USF men’s basketball team will travel to New England for an early season test as part of the 2020 Basketball Hall of Fame Tip-Off at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn. Joining the Bulls in the Naismith Bracket are Rhode Island, Temple and Virginia Tech.

USF is slated to play Rhode Island on November 28 and Virginia Tech the next day. This will be the first time the Bulls have faced the Rams since 2007 and the Hokies since 1995.

This games replace the 2020 Fort Myers Tip-Off that USF was scheduled to participate in Nov. 23 and 25.

In a normal season, the Hall of Fame Tip-Off organizers would work with participating teams to schedule two “campus site” games leading up to the Mohegan Sun Arena contests.

This is not a normal season.

Before the NCAA pushed back the start of the season from Nov. 10 to Nov. 25, USF had agreements in place to play games against Florida A&M (11/10), Maine (11/13), UNF (12/2), Mississippi Valley State (12/4), LSU (in Atlanta 12/4), Jacksonville (12/15) and New Orleans (12/21). USF was also working on a date for its return game at Boston College.

How many of those games will remain on an updated USF non-conference schedule is unknown at this time.

The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and Gazelle Group are collaborating to produce multiple college basketball games at Mohegan Sun from November 25 through December 5, 2020 and have named the space "Bubbleville." Bubbleville will house several events relocated and re-imagined due to COVID-19 and provides a controlled environment with teams and event staff adhering to tribal, government, and NCAA health and safety protocols and testing requirements.

USF last played in the event in 2011.