UCF Heads to Disney for Thanksgiving Basketball Tournament

UCF men's basketball will be spending Thanksgiving weekend at Walt Disney World's sports complex this November. The field for the 20th annual ESPN Events Invitational was announced Thursday, and the Knights are among 10 programs heading to State Farm Field House at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Kissimmee from Nov. 23–27.

UCF lands in the four-team Magic Group alongside Boston College, Cincinnati and Georgia. That group tips off on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 26, with two games, then rotates opponents for two more matchups on Nov. 27. Specific game pairings haven't been set yet. The other six teams — Akron, Appalachian State, Belmont, St. Bonaventure, Wright State and Yale — make up the Adventure Group and play a three-game slate Monday through Wednesday, Nov. 23–25.

This marks UCF's third time in the event, having previously participated in 2007 and 2017. The Knights come in with some momentum after a 21-12 season that included their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2019, though they fell to UCLA in the first round. Four of the ten invited programs — UCF, Akron, Georgia and Wright State — were 2026 NCAA Tournament participants, giving the field plenty of postseason pedigree.

The Magic Group should produce some familiar matchups for UCF. The Knights share the Big 12 with Cincinnati, which went 18-15 last season, and Georgia, which posted 22 wins in its winningest regular season in 121 years of program history. Boston College enters the tournament under new head coach Luke Murray, who arrives after serving as an assistant on two national championship teams at Connecticut.

This story was originally reported by Chris Hays of the Orlando Sentinel.