College basketball: Army, Manhattan to play in inaugural London Basketball Classic
With the inclusion of Army as the fourth and final team, the stage is set for the inaugural London Basketball Classic.
Army and Manhattan, as well as Northeastern and Princeton, will be spending their Thanksgiving weekend across the pond and competing in a four-team tournament on Nov. 24-26.
The London Basketball Classic will be held at the Copper Box Arena, which was the basketball venue for the 2012 Olympics.
"It's a terrific opportunity for the players and just in terms of the experience of getting to travel overseas and interact with people part of a different culture," Army coach Jimmy Allen said. "We're going to do some community stuff, which will be really cool. Then, just the level of competition will be great."
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The Black Knights will face Princeton, and the Jaspers will play Northeastern in the Nov. 24 semifinals. Winners advance to the championship game on Nov. 26, while the losing teams will play in the third-place game on the same day.
Army finished 15-16 overall last season and 9-9 in conference play. The Black Knights fell to Lehigh in the Patriot League Tournament quarterfinals, 91-77, but they're aiming for an even bigger season coming up.
"I think we have a chance to be very good and this is a great way to test ourselves as we go into conference play," Allen said. "Our goal is to win the Patriot League and I think we have the talent to be right there to challenge for a championship. We've got a lot of experience coming back and younger guys coming into the program that I think can make an impact. The teams that we're playing are as good as the top teams in the Patriot League, and they've won their leagues recently as well, so it will be a great test for us and an opportunity to continue to improve going into conference play."
They open up against Princeton, who is coming off of its first 20-win season since 2017. The Tigers finished 23-7 overall and fell just short of an Ivy League championship and NCAA Tournament berth. They lost to Yale, 66-64, in the conference championship game, after the two teams had split the regular season series.
Since 1950, Army is 4-10 against Princeton, but the Black Knights won two of the last three meetings between both teams. They previously met in 2009, when Army won on the road, 56-52.
"They've always been terrific," Allen said of Princeton. "They've always been right there at the top of the Ivy League and have had incredible talent."
As for Manhattan, it went 15-15 overall with an 8-12 record in the MAAC. It was the first time that the Jaspers finished with a .500 or better overall record since 2015. They defeated rival and MAAC regular season champion Iona, 74-72, in the regular season finale, before losing to Rider in the opening round of the conference tournament.
"Anytime there is an opportunity to travel internationally for the game of basketball, it is a tremendous honor," Manhattan coach Steve Masiello said.
Manhattan will play Northeastern in the other semifinal game. The Huskies finished below-.500 for the first time since 2017, going 9-22 overall and 2-16 against CAA opponents. They lost to Towson in the conference tournament quarterfinals.
This will be the second-ever meeting between both teams. The Huskies defeated Manhattan, 65-51, in their only other contest back in 2014.
"We are incredibly excited about it, and we are humbled to be chosen for this event," Masiello said. "We can't wait to go to London, learn about their culture and play two terrific games. We are looking forward to Jasper Nation travelling and supporting us as they did in Belfast (in 2017). We want this to be not just a basketball experience, but a Manhattan College community experience."
Ticket information, game times and broadcast information will be available at a later date.
Follow Eugene Rapay on Twitter at @erapay5 or on Instagram at @byeugenerapay.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: College basketball: Army, Manhattan to play London Basketball Classic
