The loaded field features Arizona, Texas Tech, Arkansas, Louisville and more.
The bracket is set for a loaded 2022 Maui Invitational, the first time the tournament returns to the island since 2019 after two years of disruptions related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This year’s eight-team event features some of the sport’s biggest brands and five teams ranked in the top 20 of Sports Illustrated’s most recent top 25. The whole field includes Arizona (No. 17 in SI’s rankings), Arkansas (No. 5), Cincinnati, Creighton (No. 10), Louisville, Ohio State, San Diego State (No. 14) and Texas Tech (No. 15).
“I don’t know that we’ve ever had the kind of balance that that we’ve got in this year’s tournament,” tournament chairman Dave Odom says. “It is the most balanced eight teams that I’ve seen since I’ve been doing this.”
The first-round matchups for games played on Monday, Nov. 21 and TV times are as follows:
- Texas Tech vs. Creighton, 2:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2
- Louisville vs. Arkansas, 5 p.m. ET, ESPN2
- Ohio State vs. San Diego State, 9 p.m. ET, ESPNU
- Cincinnati vs. Arizona, 11:30 p.m, ET, ESPN2
Semifinal and consolation play continues Nov. 22 before the championship game on Nov. 23, which will tip off at 5 p.m. ET and be televised on ESPN.
Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports
All games will be played at the Lahaina Civic Center, which has hosted several iconic early-season games throughout the history of the tournament. The event returns to Maui after being played in 2020 in a bubbled format in Asheville, N.C. and being relocated to Las Vegas in 2021 due to COVID-19 restrictions in Hawaii.
“While we’ve been able to keep the magic of Maui alive the last two years on the mainland, returning to our rightful home on the island has never felt so good,” Odom said in a statement.
The first-round matchups are headlined by a potential top-15 showdown between Texas Tech and Creighton, who are each making their first-ever trip to Maui. Excitement is extremely high with the Bluejays, who return a very talented young nucleus that features star center Ryan Kalkbrenner, potential first-round NBA pick Arthur Kaluma and gifted young point guard Ryan Nembhard. Plus, Greg McDermott’s club adds South Dakota State transfer Baylor Scheierman, who was one of the most-pursued names in the portal this spring. Meanwhile, Texas Tech is coming off a Sweet 16 appearance and top-10 KenPom finish in Year 1 under coach Mark Adams and brings in a loaded class of newcomers.
New Louisville coach Kenny Payne will bring the Cardinals to Maui and draw a stacked Arkansas team in the first round. Louisville, coming off a dreadful 13–19 season that led to the dismissal of Chris Mack, has turned to Payne, who won a national title as a player at Louisville. It will match up with a Razorbacks team that adds three McDonald’s All-Americans, including guard Nick Smith, to a group that made the Elite Eight a season ago.
There’s considerable excitement about San Diego State in 2022–23 thanks to an elite defense and the return of star wing scorer Matt Bradley for his extra year of eligibility. The Aztecs will get a tricky first round test in Ohio State, which loses a pair of NBA draft picks in E.J. Liddell and Malaki Branham but solidified its roster this spring with three highly-regarded transfers including Oklahoma State’s Isaac Likekele.
Finally, Arizona looks to build on its incredible first season under coach Tommy Lloyd, who led the Wildcats to a Pac-12 championship, No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament and a Sweet 16 appearance. It’s a new-look roster with three NBA draft picks departing, but forward Azuolas Tubelis could be an All-American and the Wildcats should be among the Pac-12’s best yet again. They draw Cincinnati, which is poised to contend for an NCAA tournament berth under second-year coach Wes Miller.
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