Gonzaga to face USC in college basketball exhibition at Acrisure Arena

Acrisure Arena is quickly becoming a hot-spot for basketball fans as another opportunity to see two of the best college teams in the country battle it out has been added to this month’s calendar.

Top teams Gonzaga and USC will face off in an exhibition game at 5 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 26 as both teams prepare for the regular season, which starts in November.

Tickets for the game go on sale at 10 a.m. on Friday (Oct. 11). Tickets start as low as $25 with some of the money going to charity as proceeds will help support Eisenhower Health’s growing Cardiovascular Institute in the Coachella Valley.

It’s another layer in the vast basketball landscape already created at Acrisure as the arena just finished hosting two Los Angeles Lakers preseason games and is poised to host the Acrisure Classic college basketball tournament, which is a four-day men’s and women’s college basketball extravaganza over Thanksgiving week.

John Page, vice president of Acrisure Arena and OVG360 Facilities, said they are happy to keep building their portfolio when it comes to sporting events and jumped at the chance to host another game. He said he’s not expecting a jam-packed arena for a college basketball exhibition game, but he knows there is interest in both teams.

“Attendance. I’d love to see 5,000 people, but who knows? It can be hard to predict,” Page said. “Snowbirds will be starting to come back to the desert. It’s a low ticket price. Some people have Gonzaga ranked as a top-five team in the country, and we know we have many USC fans and many fans from the Northwest out here. We evaluated it and felt like there was not much risk.”

USC will also be part of the Acrisure Series, a 21-team, 19-game tournament at Acrisure Arena from Nov. 26-29. The Trojans will play Saint Mary’s on Nov. 28 (Thanksgiving) and then either Arizona State or New Mexico on Nov. 29. The USC women with JuJu Watkins will also be part of that event.

In 2023, Acrisure Arena hosted one Lakers preseason game and a regular-season college basketball game between Arizona and Michigan State on Thanksgiving.

According to the Gonzaga and USC basketball coaches, the Acrisure Arena exhibition is a perfect fit for both teams.

“We’re excited to play a high-quality program like USC in such a spectacular location,” Gonzaga head coach Mark Few said in a release for the event. “I know we have a lot of fans in the area that are thrilled for the game. We are also grateful to play for such a worthy cause and help any way we can. This will be a great way for our team to get ready for the season.”

USC head coach Eric Musselman added: “We are really excited for the opportunity to play Gonzaga at Acrisure Arena. Gonzaga is one of the best programs in the country. This exhibition game will be a great test for our team and allow us to compete against a very well-coached team prior to the start of our non-conference schedule.”

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Gonzaga to face USC in college basketball exhibition at Acrisure Arena