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JAM | Nov 19, 2022

Jersey Mike’s Jamaica Classic kicks off

/ Our Today

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Best college basketballers in America will be on show

Jersey Mike’s Jamaica Classic.

Durrant Pate/Contributor

Jersey Mike’s Jamaica Classic college basketball competition has started in the resort city of Montego Bay, St James.

The competition, which will run from November 18-20, features an all-star line-up of college basketball teams. Eight teams from eight conferences will go head-to-head in this early season round robin tournament at the Montego Bay Convention Centre.

The 2022 roster includes the return of Georgetown and Loyola Marymount University and new additions Wake Forest, LaSalle Explorers, University of Wisconsin Green Bay, Morgan State, Utah Valley, and Queens University.

The La Salle men’s basketball team has its eye on extending its winning streak to three straight when it plays Wake Forest in the first round. Tip-off is set for 2 pm. The game will be televised on CBS Sports Network with Steve Wolf and Dave Ryan on the call.

Plans put in place for American fans

Millions of eyes will be on Jamaica for the tournament, as CBS Sports Network will once again televise the tournament across the US and provide streaming access online. For fans looking to cheer on their teams in Jamaica, there are direct flights into Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay from nearly every major US city.

Custom travel packages including courtside tickets, all-inclusive resort accommodations, VIP experiences and exclusive team access are available. The Jamaica Classic is an early-season college basketball tournament that takes place in November of each year at the Montego Bay Convention Centre.

The tournament debuted in 2017 with a 14-team field. It began using an eight-team, round-robin format in 2018. Following the competition, the Explorers basketball team will take on either Georgetown or Loyola Marymount on Sunday.

Explorers looking for good season start

They are coming off a 72-60 win over Queens University of Charlotte in the on-campus round of the Jersey Mike’s Jamaica Classic. The Explorers are led by head coach, Fran Dunphy, the all-time winningest coach in Philadelphia Big 5 history.

A 1970 La Salle graduate, Dunphy sports a 582-326 career record. With La Salle’s win over Wagner last Saturday, Dunphy became the first Big 5 coach to win a game with three Big 5 teams (won 310 games with Penn and 270 with Temple). La Salle will look to start the season with wins in three of its first four games for the first time since 2017, when it went 3-1 to start that year.

They will be looking to produce a winning season for the first time since 2015-16, when they went 15-15 and 9-9 in Atlantic 10 play. The Explorers’ trip to Jamaica is their first one outside of the US and its territories since December 2017, when they played in the Basketball Hall of Fame Belfast Classic against Towson and Holy Cross in Belfast, Ireland.

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