The field for the 2024 Myrtle Beach Invitational was announced on Thursday and the University of Portland is among the eight-teams competing at the event. The Pilots will be joined by 2024 NIT participants Bradley (Missouri Valley), Princeton (Ivy), and South Florida (American Athletic). Middle Tennessee (Conference USA), Ohio (Mid-American), Texas State (Sun Belt), and Wright State (Horizon League) are the other teams in the sixth annual version of the event.
The 2024 Myrtle Beach Invitational will be played November 21, 22 and 24 at the HTC Center on the campus of Coastal Carolina University in Conway, S.C. All games will be presented across the ESPN platforms.
Owned and operated by ESPN Events, the Myrtle Beach Invitational will make tickets available for purchase later this summer following the announcement of the complete tournament schedule. In the meantime, fans can sign up for first access to tickets at www.myrtlebeachinvite.com.
Past Myrtle Beach Invitational champions include UCF (2018), Baylor (2019), Utah State (2021), UMass (2022) and Liberty (2023). Two schools in the 2023 Myrtle Beach Invitational competed in the post-season with College of Charleston and Vermont advancing to the NCAAs. Both Charleston and Vermont won 2024 conference regular- and post-season titles.
About the Teams: Portland
Bradley has posted nine 20-plus win seasons this century with current coach Brian Wardle responsible for five of those teams during 2017-2018, 2018-2019, 2019-2020, 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 seasons. Wardle led the Braves to back-to-back Missouri Valley post-season titles in 2019 and 2020.
Princeton captured the 2024 Ivy League regular-season crown and has competed in the post-season the past three campaigns highlighted by a NCAA "Sweet 16" appearance where the Tigers eliminated Arizona and Missouri before losing to Creighton in the regionals.
South Florida set a school record for wins in a season as first-year coach Amir Abdur-Rahim led the Bulls to a 25-8 record and the 2024 American Athletic Conference regular-season title. USF advanced to the second-round of the NIT with a first-round win over in-state rival UCF.
Middle Tennessee has advanced to the semi-finals in the last three Conference USA post-season tournaments where the Blue Raiders have lost to eventual champions UAB, Florida Atlantic and Western Kentucky, respectively. Middle Tennessee will be appearing in its second Myrtle Beach Invitational after placing seventh in 2019.
Ohio has posted a 98-60 record the past five seasons under coach Jeff Boals. The Bobcats have advanced to the post-season twice under Boals with an NCAA appearance in 2021 after winning the Mid-American title. Ohio placed seventh in the 2019 Myrtle Beach Invitational by defeating Middle Tennessee 75-63.
Texas State is coached by Terrence Johnson, who in four seasons has guided the Bobcats to 72 wins, two Sun Belt regular-season titles and a 2022 NIT berth. Texas State finished the 2023-2024 campaign by winning six of its last seven games with the setback being in the Sun Belt post-season semi-finals where the Bobcats dropped a 73-68 decision to eventual champions James Madison.
Wright State finished the season with an 18-14 record as coach Scott Nagy left for Southern Illinois and associate head coach Clint Sargent took over the program leaders. Despite losing in the quarterfinals of the Horizon post-season tourney, The Raiders rebounded from a 6-8 start to win 12 of their last 18 games highlighted by a 21-point win (96-75) over conference champions Oakland.
ESPN Events, a division of ESPN, owns and operates a portfolio of collegiate sporting events nationwide. In 2024, the 34-event schedule includes four early-season college football kickoff games, 17 college bowl games, 10 college basketball events, the premiere regular season college softball and gymnastics events, as well as the Band of the Year National Championship. Collectively, these events account for over 400 hours of live programming on ESPN platforms, reaching 60 million viewers and attracting more than 650,000 annual attendees. Each year, the portfolio of events features more than 20 Division I conferences and hosts over 4,000 participating student-athletes. With satellite offices in more than 10 cities across the country, ESPN Events builds relationships with conferences, schools and local communities, as well as providing unique experiences for teams and fans.
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