Annual Game Part of ESPN’s America’s Heroes
No. 9 Gonzaga and Pittsburgh will face off in the fourth installment of the Armed Forces Classic on Friday, Nov. 13, from the United States Marine Corps Camp Foster in Okinawa, Japan. 13. Pre-game coverage begins at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN in Foster Fieldhouse with ESPN’s Kevin Connors and Jay Williams.
The Armed Forces Classic is the centerpiece of ESPN’s seventh annual America’s Heroes – a five-day initiative that honors veterans and troops in programming across the company’s U.S. media platforms from Saturday, Nov. 7 through Friday, Nov. 13.
Camp Foster is located in Ginowan City with some of its portions overlapping with Okinawa City, Chatan town and Kitanakagusuku village in the Japanese prefecture of Okinawa Island. It houses the headquarters of Marine Corps Base Butler, Marine Corps Installations Pacific and the Okinawa Area Field Office of United States Forces Japan. Foster Fieldhouse is a multi-purpose facility that can accommodate up to 3,100 people.
Gonzaga and Pittsburgh both played to the third round of the 2014 NCAA Championship.
Gonzaga was picked to win the West Coast Conference regular-season title, after having won 14 of the last 15 WCC regular season titles and the last three in a row. The Bulldogs are led by Preseason All-WCC Team members in senior Przemek Karnowski, senior Kyle Wiltjer and sophomore Domantas Sabonis.
Pitt, coming off its 15th consecutive postseason appearance, returns four starters, including the top returning scoring duo in the ACC in juniors Michael Young and Jamel Artis. The Panthers were selected to finish 10th in the ACC Operation Basketball 2015-16 Preseason Poll.
The game tips off the start of the 2015-16 college basketball season across ESPN platforms.
Game & Studio Coverage
- Play-by-play veteran Dan Shulman will have the call of the game with analyst Jay Bilas and on-court reporter Andy Katz.
- Pregame, half and postgame coverage will be hosted by Connors and Williams live onsite.
- Coaches’ interviews will be played during pregame
Additional Content & Vignettes
- Features on the Battle of Okinawa, the current military presence on the island and on Marine Jungle Warfare Training.
- Also air “sense of place and life on the base” vignettes throughout the telecast.
- Segments documenting the trip and the activities of both Gonzaga and Pitt.
The Armed Forces Classic – a series of Division I men’s college basketball games – are played on United States military bases worldwide over a five-year rotation. The 2016 event on Veteran’s Day on Friday, Nov. 11 – just under a month from the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor – will pit Indiana vs. Kansas and Arizona vs. Michigan State.
Armed Forces Classic History
Nov. 14, 2014: No. 8 Louisville, coached by Rick Pitino, defeated Minnesota, coached by his son Richard Pitino, 81-68 from the United States Coast Guard Air Station Borinquen in Puerto Rico.
Nov. 8, 2013: No. 19 Oregon topped Georgetown 82-75 from United States Army Garrison Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, South Korea.
Nov. 9, 2012: Unranked Connecticut upset No. 14 Michigan State 66-62 from inside a C-5 transport airplane hangar on Ramstein Air Base in Germany.
The Armed Forces Classic is owned and operated by ESPN Events, a division of ESPN.
For more information on the Armed Forces Classic, visit the official website, or follow on Facebook and Twitter.
ESPN Events
ESPN Events, a division of ESPN, owns and operates a large portfolio of collegiate sporting events worldwide. The roster includes three Labor Day weekend college football games; 13 college bowl games, 10 college basketball events and two college award shows, which accounts for approximately 250-plus hours of programming, reaches almost 64 million viewers and attracts over 700,000 attendees each year. With satellite offices in Boca Raton, Boise, Birmingham, Dallas-Fort Worth, Albuquerque, St. Petersburg and Las Vegas, ESPN Events builds relationships with conferences, schools and local communities, as well as providing unique experiences for teams and fans.
ESPN Events also manages the Big 12 Corporate Partner Program.
Collegiate Football
AdvoCare Texas Kickoff (Houston); AdvoCare V100 Texas Bowl (Houston); Birmingham Bowl (Alabama); Celebration Bowl (Atlanta); Famous Idaho Potato Bowl (Boise); Gildan New Mexico Bowl (Albuquerque); Hawai’i Bowl (Honolulu); Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl (Dallas-Fort Worth); Marmot Boca Raton Bowl (Florida); MEAC/SWAC Challenge presented by Disney (Orlando, Fla.); Orlando Kickoff (Florida); Popeyes Bahamas Bowl (Nassau); Raycom Media Camellia Bowl (Montgomery, Ala.); Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl (Nevada); St. Petersburg Bowl (Florida); The Home Depot College Football Awards (Atlanta) and Zaxby’s Heart of Dallas Bowl (Dallas-Fort Worth)
Collegiate Basketball
AdvoCare Invitational (Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, Fla.); Armed Forces Classic (Camp Foster, Okinawa, Japan); DIRECTV Wooden Legacy (Orange County, Calif.); College Basketball Awards Presented by Wendy’s (Los Angeles); Gildan Charleston Classic (South Carolina); Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic (Honolulu); Jimmy V Men’s Classic Presented by Corona (New York City); Jimmy V Women’s Classic Presented by Corona (Storrs, Conn.); NIT Season Tip-Off (Brooklyn, N.Y.); Puerto Rico Tip-Off (San Juan) and State Farm Champions Classic (Chicago)
For more information, visit the official website, Facebook, Twitter or YouTube pages.
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