Report: KU-Gonzaga in the works for November

By Matt Tait     Oct 27, 2020

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Kansas head coach Bill Self calls a play from the bench against Baylor during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game on Saturday, Feb. 22, 2020, in Waco, Texas. (AP Photo/Ray Carlin)

A matchup that Kansas basketball fans have been intrigued by for years may be just a few weeks away from happening.

CBS Sports college basketball analyst Matt Norlander reported Tuesday morning that sources have told him that Kansas and Gonzaga are slated to open the college basketball season against each other on Nov. 25 in Fort Myers, Fla.

KU officials would not confirm anything about a possible KU-Gonzaga matchup as of 11:20 a.m. Tuesday morning.

The matchup, if it happens, would take place on the first day the NCAA has allowed games to be played, and, according to Norlander, would be a part of a four-team event that also would include Auburn and a team that has not yet been determined. CBS’s Jon Rothstein reported the Gonzaga/Auburn involvement in a Fort Myers event late Monday night.

Auburn and the fourth program also would play on Nov. 25 and and Kansas would play the fourth team on Nov. 27, when Gonzaga and Auburn would square off.

The two games in Fort Myers would leave Kansas looking for one more nonconference game to fill out its 2020-21 schedule.

[KU released all but three games of its 2020-21 schedule on Monday.][1]

Fort Myers is no stranger to hosting college basketball games, launching the Fort Myers Tip-Off in 2018. Games for that event have been played at Suncoast Credit Union Arena, the home of Florida SouthWestern State College.

Kansas State, Pitt, Bradley and Northwestern competed in the Fort Myers Tip-Off in 2019, and the field for that event in 2020 was originally scheduled to include Butler, Colorado, South Florida and Wisconsin.

[1]: http://www2.kusports.com/news/2020/oct/26/ku-mens-basketball-releases-all-3-games-2020-21-sc/

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Written By Matt Tait

A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He graduated from Lawrence High in 1996 and the University of Kansas in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. After covering KU sports for the University Daily Kansan and Rivals.com, Matt joined the World Company (and later Ogden Publications) in 2001 and has held several positions with the paper and KUsports.com in the past 20+ years. He became the Journal-World Sports Editor in 2018. Throughout his career, Matt has won several local and national awards from both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Kansas Press Association. In 2021, he was named the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Matt lives in Lawrence with his wife, Allison, and two daughters, Kate and Molly. When he's not covering KU sports, he likes to spend his time playing basketball and golf, listening to and writing music and traveling the world with friends and family.