Long Beach men’s basketball will play on a new coast, as they attend the Baha Mar Hoops Nassau Championship during Thanksgiving weekend.
Coming off a 29-point win against St. Katherine on Saturday, LBSU will prepare to participate in the mid-major tournament in the Bahamas.
The three-day tournament will take place Nov. 25-27 at the Baha Mar Convention Center, in Nassau.
The Beach will participate in the eight-team tournament alongside seven other mid-major basketball programs, including the 2017 inaugural winners, the University of Vermont.
Baha Mar Hoops will follow a bracket-style of play, with the teams that won the first round proceeding to the second round and an opportunity to reach the championship game. While teams that lost in the first round will fight for better placement in the tournament.
The trip to the Caribbean will mark the first time the 2022 Big West regular season champions will play outside of California and the Pacific time zone this season.
“It’s a long flight but we treat ourselves as professionals and we’re going to do the best we can to lessen the damages of a long flight… we hold ourselves to a championship standard,” Long Beach guard Jadon Jones said.
The trip will also mark the first time this season that The Beach will be playing consecutive days, with LBSU playing three games in Nassau.
“You have three games in three days to win the tournament, very similar to what we have to do when we go to [Las] Vegas,” Head Coach Dan Monson said. “This is a great time to be able to experiment… to see what’s going to work best for us when our league season starts and then carry on to the [Big West] tournament.”
With the Nassau Championship being held during Thanksgiving weekend, the team won’t be able to have any traditional Thanksgiving dinner back in Long Beach, but they will take the festivities with them to the Bahamas.
“We’ll go around the room and let each player tell us what they’re thankful for in their life,” Monson said. “I think basketball is something we’re all thankful for. And to spend it together, it’s always great.”
Long Beach State will face off against the University of Oakland in the first round of the tournament on Black Friday at 5 p.m. PT.
The Beach’s basketball games at the Nassau Championship will be available to stream on Flohoops.