Is the Thanksgiving week game between the Texas Tech basketball team and Texas A&M still happening? Tech officials say it's too early to tell.
On Tuesday, CBS Sports' Matt Norlander and Dennis Dodd reported on a multi-team event (MTE) centered around Name, Image and Likeness scheduled for late November in Las Vegas. The tournament, dubbed the Players Era Festival, will reportedly feature eight teams during the 2024 tournament, one of which will reportedly be Texas A&M.
According to reports, A&M will be one of the teams participating in the tournament, with games scheduled for Nov. 26, 27 and 29, with the 28th open for Thanksgiving.
However, this creates a contradiction. Back in December, Texas Tech and Texas A&M announced that they would begin this season with a home-and-home series, with the Aggies scheduled to visit Lubbock on Nov. 29. To take advantage of that game, athletics director Kirby Hocutt told AJ that Texas Tech has made a request to its football team. “Hopefully” the final game of the season will be played at home at Jones AT&T Stadium.
That plan came to fruition when the Big 12 announced its 2024 conference schedule on Jan. 31. The Red Raiders will host West Virginia on November 30th. Add in the volleyball team's home game against Arizona on Nov. 29, and tech fans can enjoy three events in two days. That is now at stake.
Robert Giovanetti, Tech's senior associate athletic director, said the athletic department was not completely caught off guard by the report. He said A&M head coach Buzz Williams previously contacted Grant McCasland and told him the Aggies were considering holding a tournament, which would change the original plan.
“We still have an agreement,” Giovanetti said. “No official cancellation of that game has been announced, so discussions are still taking place between the head coaches at this time.”
The tournament that A&M will reportedly participate in has not yet been officially announced.
Giovanetti also said there were no administrative conversations between Tech and A&M regarding this game. Instead, they're waiting on Williams, McCasland and Tech's assistant athletic director Jonathan Botros to sort things out.
If the decision is made to cancel the series, Giovanetti said the purchase price would be approximately $120,000. But there is “still some interest” from both sides in possibly keeping the series on another date. Tech plans for him to return to College Station in 2025.
It's also possible the team decides to keep this season's games and play on another day. Giovanetti said if that happens, the technical department will try to find another match for the Nov. 29 date. It's too early to speculate who the new opponent will be.
“I just know that Grant and Jonathan are going to really try to find the best opponent,” Giovanetti said, “and that's consistent with what the team and the fans need. Obviously at any time. We get to play A&M, and this is a historic game because we've done it before.''It's hard to recreate that in the same conference, but we still expect it to be a great weekend for our fans.''
