5 tournaments highlight holiday hoops week in Las Vegas

It’s Thanksgiving week, which means college basketball teams around the country will descend on Las Vegas for a week of tournaments.

Five tournaments will take place around town, with the first one starting on Monday and the last concluding on Sunday.

Both the Runnin’ Rebels and Lady Rebels will play, with the men appearing in the MGM Main Event before Thanksgiving and the women hosting the Lady Rebel Round-Up after the holiday.

Some of the top men’s and women’s teams from around the country will be in action, too, and there will be no shortage of good options for fans looking to pair their holiday week and weekend with high-quality college basketball.

Here’s a look at the tournaments coming to town:

Nov. 20-22: MGM Resorts Main Event

The Runnin’ Rebels will be in the “Heavyweight Bracket,” of the MGM Resorts Main Event, which will shift over to T-Mobile Arena for the first time.

The tournament has eight teams, but it is separated into two smaller tournaments.

UNLV will face off against Rice in its first game of the tournament while Mississippi and Utah will play. Depending on results, UNLV will play one of the two.

Prairie View A&M, Eastern Kentucky, Georgia State and Eastern Washington make up the “Middleweight Bracket.”

Nov. 23-24: Continental Tires Invitational

The Orleans will host the eight-team men’s tournament. It will feature Xavier, Arizona State, Kansas State, Northern Arizona, George Washington, Hampton, Rider and UC Irvine.

Xavier, No. 15 as of Sunday, comes in as the top-ranked team in the tournament. The Musketeers made it to the Elite Eight last season before bowing out of the NCAA tournament.

Nov. 23-25 Play4Kay Showcase

Eight women’s teams will be at Mandalay Bay Events Center to compete in the Play4Kay Showcase, including two ranked teams.

Ohio State comes in as the top-ranked team in the tournament at No. 9 as of Sunday and Stanford is No. 14.

The tournament sets up a possible rematch for the two teams, which played earlier this month when Ohio State trounced Stanford.

Both Gonzaga and DePaul also received votes in the latest AP poll.

Nov. 24-26 South Point Thanksgiving Shootout

No. 2 Texas and No. 8 UCLA will highlight the women’s teams heading to South Point, though the two teams won’t play during the event, which has a set schedule.

Kansas State, which received votes in the latest AP poll, Washington, Creighton, LSU, Penn State, LA Tech, Cleveland State, Louisiana and St. Louis will also come to town.

Five games will be played on the first two days, with two on the last day.

Nov. 25-26: Lady Rebel Round-Up

The Lady Rebels will see tougher competition as they move into December, but this tournament should allow them to face teams a bit tougher than they have so far.

They will play host to Hofstra before taking on either Minnesota or Wake Forest.

The Demon Deacons, like the Lady Rebels, made it to the WNIT last year. They lost in the second round to Middle Tennessee State.

Contact Betsy Helfand at bhelfand@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BetsyHelfand on Twitter.