Aug. 6, 2015

Puerto Rico Tip-Off | Travel Packages | Original MSU Release

BRISTOL, Conn. - Missouri State will open the 2015 Puerto Rico Tip-Off against Butler on national television in the opening round on Thursday, Nov. 19, ESPN Events, the organizer of this year's tournament, announced Thursday (Aug. 6).

The first-round game will start at 12:30 p.m. (Central) and air live on ESPNU. The top of the eight-team bracket also includes Temple and Minnesota who square off in the first game of the tournament at 10:30 a.m., on the same date. Winners play the next day (Nov. 20) at Noon on ESPN2 or ESPNU with opening-round losers squaring off at 9:30 a.m. on ESPNU.

Butler is coming off a 23-11 campaign that saw the Bulldogs advance to the third round of the NCAA Tournament before falling to Notre Dame. Temple was 26-11 a year ago on its march to the NIT semifinals, while Minnesota finished 18-15 overall.

The other half of the bracket includes Miami (Fla.) against Mississippi State in one opening-round quarterfinal game and Utah against Texas tech in the other game.

Tournament participants will have a day off on Nov. 21 before the final round continues on Sunday, Nov. 22 with the championship game (ESPN2) at 6:30 p.m., third-place game (ESPNU) at 3:30 p.m., fifth-place game (ESPNU) at 1:30 p.m., and seventh-place contest (ESPN3) at 11 a.m.

The event will take place at the Coliseo Roberto Clemente in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Eleven of the 12 games of the tournament will air live on linear ESPN television affiliates, primarily ESPN2 and ESPNU. Each tournament game will also be available through WatchESPN, accessible online at WatchESPN.com, on smartphones and tablets via the WatchESPN app, and streamed on televisions through Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick, Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku, Xbox 360 or Xbox One.

#MSUBears