HONOLULU – The New Mexico State men's basketball team will open the 2017 Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic with Davidson, ESPN Events unveiled on Wednesday.
 
The Aggies and Wildcats are scheduled to battle it out for the first time in program history at 9 p.m. (MT)/6 p.m. (HT) local time on Friday, Dec. 22, in the Stan Sheriff Center on ESPNU. Should NM State advance, it will play the winner between Miami and host Hawaii on Saturday, Dec. 23, at 8 p.m. (MT)/5 p.m. (HT) local time on ESPN2.
 
Other teams in the tournament include Southern California, Akron, Princeton and Middle Tennessee. Of the eight teams in the tournament, five participated in the NCAA Tournament last season in NM State, Miami, USC, Princeton and MTSU.
 
NM State returns a pair of all-conference players in Eli Chuha and Jemerrio Jones while getting back Sidy N'Dir – who missed the majority of last season due to a foot injury – and AJ Harris, who sat out last season due to NCAA transfer rules. The Aggies had a banner season in 2016-17, winning the WAC Tournament with a school record 28 wins while reeling off 20-consecutive victories.
 
Davidson went 17-15 overall last season and 8-10 in the Atlantic-10 conference. The Wildcats also return four of their five top scorers from last season, including Peyton Aldridge – who averaged 20.5 points while shooting 50-percent from the floor and 41-percent from beyond the arc.
 
Previous tournament championships include USC (2009), Butler (2010), Kansas State (2011), Arizona (2012), Iowa State (2013), George Washington (2014), Oklahoma (2015) and San Diego State (2016). Every game will be broadcast on one of the linear ESPN family of networks with the exception of the first consolation game on the top portion of the bracket.
 
For a complete look at the bracket, click here or go to www.HawaiianAirlinesDiamondHeadClassic.com. The Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic is one of 11 tournaments owned and operated by ESPN Events, a division of ESPN.