Terps And Hoyas To Meet In 2016 Gavitt Games
ROSEMONT, Ill. – The Big Ten and Big East Conferences announced Tuesday the matchups for the Gavitt Tipoff Games, with Georgetown hosting Maryland at the Verizon Center on Tuesday, Nov. 15.
The Gavitt Tipoff Games is an annual early-season series played between the two conferences and named in honor of Dave Gavitt, founder of the BIG EAST and basketball visionary.
"We are excited to continue this series with Georgetown," said head coach Mark Turgeon.
Maryland leads the all-time series, 37-27. Maryland and Georgetown renewed their rivalry last season in College Park, where the Terps were victorious, 75-71.
Prior to that, the last time the two schools played locally, Maryland captured an 84-83 overtime victory on November 26, 1993 at the Capital Center in Landover, Md. Maryland and Georgetown played each other every season from 1947 to 1976.
The Maryland-Georgetown matchup is the lone rematch from last year's Gavitt Games.
Last season Maryland reached the Sweet 16 under Turgeon for the first time in 13 seasons and finished with 27 victories. The Terps opened the season with a 15-1 record – the best start in program history. The Terps were ranked in the Associated Press Top-25 the entire season and also finished 12th in the USA Today Coaches Poll.
Eight teams in this year's event advanced to the NCAA Tournament last season: Villanova, Purdue, Maryland, Wisconsin, Butler, Providence, Seton Hall and Iowa. Creighton and Ohio State played in the NIT.
The 2016 Gavitt Tipoff Games schedule:
Monday, Nov. 14
Villanova at Purdue
Tuesday, Nov. 15
Maryland at Georgetown
Wisconsin at Creighton
Wednesday, Nov. 16
Northwestern at Butler
Thursday, Nov. 17
Seton Hall at Iowa
Providence at Ohio State
Rutgers at DePaul
Friday, Nov. 18
St. John's at Minnesota
Scheduled through 2022, the Gavitt Tipoff Games will be played on consecutive days in the first full week of the college basketball season. The series will span eight years, with games played at home sites. Each BIG EAST team will participate a minimum of six times, while Big Ten programs will take part a minimum of four times. Teams from both conferences already meet in some traditional rivalry games, and those matchups will continue in the upcoming seasons.
The unique series between the two conferences is named to honor the late Gavitt, who had a profound and lasting influence on the sport of basketball on the collegiate, professional and Olympic levels. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006.
