Ragin’ Cajuns to face Colorado State in Gulf Coast Showcase basketball tournament

Cajuns part of three-day, eight-team field

ESTERO, Fla. – The Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns men’s basketball team will face Colorado State in the opening round of the 2018 Gulf Coast Showcase field, which was announced on Thursday. Louisiana, which finished with a 27-7 record, will be part of perhaps the most competitive field in the six-years of the tournament joining Florida Gulf Coast, Toledo, South Dakota State, Tulane, UC Irvine and UTSA in the eight-team field, which will be played Nov. 19-21 at Germain Arena.

Louisiana-Lafayette, one of four teams that won 20 or more games last season along with a league title, join South Dakota State (Summit League), FGCU (A-Sun) and Toledo (MAC West Division) as league champions.

“I think it speaks volumes of how this event has grown since 2013 when you have two very recognizable programs such as Tulane and Colorado State, and yet they are not among your four top teams from last season in this field,” said Brooks Downing, whose company bd Global manages the annual event. “And to have FGCU back in the event with new coach Michael Fly hands down makes this our best tournament field yet.”

The Gulf Coast Showcase men’s tournament, created specifically for mid-major programs only, tips on Monday, Nov. 19 with the following pairings:

2018 Gulf Coast Showcase Schedule
11 a.m. ET – South Dakota State vs. Tulane
1:30 p.m. ET – UC Irvine vs. UTSA
5 p.m. ET – Louisiana vs. Colorado State
7:30 p.m. ET – FGCU vs. Toledo

Game times for Tuesday and Wednesday will be the same with semifinal games on Nov. 20 at 5/7:30 p.m. Wednesday’s championship game will tip at 7:30.

For the fourth consecutive year, the tournament will support the Golisano Children’s Hospital of Southwest Florida. The hospital is the only children’s hospital between Tampa and Miami and provides vital health care for the region’s sick and injured children and their families. The hospital’s new $242 million facility provides 300,000 square feet of space, 128 pediatric and NICU beds with space to expand to 160 beds, a 17-bay emergency department, a freestanding pediatric pharmacy and in-hospital school classroom.

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 www.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 – Colorado Christian @ Colorado State
Nov. 9 – Louisiana @ Tennessee
Nov. 10 – Wilberforce @ Toledo
Nov. 12 – Life Pacific @ UC Irvine
Nov. 16 – South Dakota State @ FGCU
TBD – St. Edwards @ UTSA

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