Four games will act as a warmup to the 2019 Final Four with the first U.S. Bank Stadium Basketball Classic announced Tuesday.
The feature game will be the Gophers vs. Oklahoma State on Nov. 30. Preceding that Big Ten vs. Big 12 matchup will be St. Thomas vs. Wisconsin-River Falls. On Dec. 1 North Dakota State vs. Drake and South Dakota State vs. Northern Iowa will be played back-to-back.
"We couldn't be more excited to take part in the U.S. Bank Stadium Basketball Classic," Gophers coach Richard Pitino said in a statement. "The opportunity to play in the first basketball event at a state-of-the-art venue against a tremendous opponent in Oklahoma State was too good to pass up. I'm looking forward to seeing a lot of maroon and gold among the purple seats in November."
Single-day tickets start at $15 and two-day packages will also be available when tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. on Aug. 10 through Ticketmaster.com.
The Classic will feature a pre-game tailgate party three hours prior to the first games both Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 that will be hosted in the Delta Sky360 Club. Cost for the tailgate is $35 and will be made available to the public in addition to purchasing game tickets. Game times will be announced at a later date.
U.S. Bank Stadium General Manager Patrick Talty said the event is an "accessible way for college basketball fans to enjoy a game in this unique setting."
Talty called it, "An awesome opportunity to experience great basketball games at U.S. Bank Stadium [before the Final Four]."
Marcus Fuller
