June 17, 2016
Vanderbilt men’s basketball will take on Minnesota on December 3rd at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D., in a regular season contest. Game time and television are still to be determined.
Minnesota played Oklahoma State University at the Pentagon last season, falling 62-60 in front of a sell-out crowd. This will be Vanderbilt’s first trip to the venue, which has hosted eight NCAA Division I men’s college basketball games since opening in 2013.
“Sioux Falls fans provided Minnesota with a great atmosphere during its first trip to the Pentagon, and coach Pitino’s eagerness to bring a highly touted recruiting class to our facility validates us as great basketball stop,” said Eric Larsen, general manager of the Sanford Sports Complex. “Vanderbilt is the first SEC program to play in the Pentagon, and the tradition-rich Commodores have a proven winner in new head coach Bryce Drew.”
Vanderbilt made the NCAA tournament last season—its 14th appearance in program history—where it fell to Wichita State in a First Four game. The Commodores finished 19-14 overall and 11-7 in Southeastern Conference action. Head coach Bryce Drew was hired in April after a successful run leading Valparaiso.
“We are excited to be part of this event,” said Drew. “I have seen it on television and loved the atmosphere and energy. It will be a neat experience for our players to play in Sioux Falls against a much-improved and well-coached Big Ten team.”
Minnesota went 8-23 last season and 2-16 in Big Ten Conference play. Richard Pitino returns for his fourth season as head coach of the Gophers in 2016-17. Minnesota welcomes six new players to the court this season, including four freshmen who were part of a top-20 nationally ranked recruiting class.
“We are excited about playing a quality opponent like Vanderbilt at the Pentagon,” said Pitino. “We played there last year and loved our experience. The staff treated us great and it’s a first class facility. This will be the toughest non-conference schedule we have played.”
The two programs have played four times but haven’t met since the 1950s. Minnesota has won all four games, the most recent coming during the 1959-60 season. They have never faced each other at a neutral site.
There are seven Division I men’s basketball regular-season games scheduled at the Pentagon for the upcoming season. Four teams will play in the inaugural Sanford Pentagon Showcase Nov. 25-27. South Dakota State University; the University of California, Irvine; East Tennessee State University; and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee are part of the round-robin event that will include two games per day.
Ticket information will be released later this summer.
Division I Men’s Basketball Games at the Sanford Pentagon
Nov. 8, 2013 – Wisconsin 86, St. John’s 75
Nov. 18, 2014 – Wichita State 71, Memphis 56
Nov. 30, 2014 – Florida Gulf Coast 71, South Dakota State 58
Dec. 13 2014 – UNLV 75, South Dakota 61
Nov. 13, 2015 – Iowa State 68, Colorado 62
Dec. 12, 2015 – Oklahoma State 62, Minnesota 60
Dec. 27, 2015 – South Dakota State 65, Middle Tennessee 61
Dec. 28, 2015 – South Dakota 89, Florida Gulf Coast 81
Nov. 25, 2016 – East Tennessee State vs. Milwaukee
Nov. 25, 2016 – South Dakota State vs. UC Irvine
Nov. 26, 2016 – UC Irvine vs. Milwaukee
Nov. 26, 2016 – South Dakota State vs. East Tennessee State
Nov. 27, 2016 – East Tennessee State vs. UC Irvine
Nov. 27, 2016 – South Dakota State vs. Milwaukee
Dec. 3, 2016 – Minnesota vs. Vanderbilt
About the Sanford Pentagon
The cornerstone of the Sanford Sports Complex in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, is the Sanford Pentagon, a 160,000-square-foot, five-sided facility featuring nine basketball courts, including the 1950s/1960s-inspired Heritage Court. The venue combines state-of-the-art amenities—including high-definition video boards and executive suites—with period-specific finishes that are a nod to the nostalgic days of basketball.
The 3,200-seat Pentagon is home to Sanford POWER Basketball Academy, Sanford POWER Volleyball Academy, the NBA D-League’s Sioux Falls Skyforce, the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Women’s and Men’s Basketball tournaments and the South Dakota High School Basketball Hall of Fame. For more information, visit sanfordpentagon.com.
