LOUDONVILLE, NY – Siena Basketball is headed back to the Happiest Place on Earth this Thanksgiving. The Saints will be part of a loaded eight-team field for the 2022 ESPN Events Invitational set for ESPN's Feast Week Nov. 24-27 at the HP Field House located at ESPN's Wide World of Sports Complex in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.  
 
Joining Siena in the ultra-competitive eight-team field will be power conference opponents Florida State, Memphis, Ole Miss, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Seton Hall, and Stanford. Four opponents in the field participated in the postseason last year, with Florida State advancing to the Sweet 16 and Oklahoma to the Round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament, while both Memphis and Ole Miss participated in the NIT, with Memphis winning the NIT Championship.
 
The 2022 ESPN Events Invitational, which is owned and operated by ESPN Events, will mark the 15^th installment of the Thanksgiving Weekend event, which is sponsored by the MAAC and has featured a league school in the field each year. Previously known as the Old Spice Classic, AdvoCare Invitational, and Orlando Invitational, the event will feature 12 games over three days (Thursday, Friday, and Sunday) during Thanksgiving Week, with each team competing in one game per day while advancing through a bracket-tournament format. The complete bracket, including the announcement of Siena's first opponent, will be released this summer.
 
The 2022 ESPN Events Invitational will mark the third time that Siena has participated in the event, with the Saints in search of their first win. Siena faced 12^th ranked Tennessee, Wichita State, and Oklahoma State in the 2008 Old Spice Classic, and 21^st ranked Memphis, Saint Joseph's, and Purdue in the 2013 Old Spice Classic. The Saints were scheduled to participate in the 2020 Orlando Invitational before it was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
 
Siena holds a 7-12 all-time overall record against the seven other programs in the field. The Saints' most common opponent is regional foe Seton Hall – whom Siena holds a 4-6 all-time record against – although the programs haven't met since 1974. The Saints' most recent opponent was Memphis, who defeated Siena 70-66 in the Gotham Classic on Dec. 20, 2017 in Tennessee. The Saints have never before faced Ole Miss, Nebraska, or Oklahoma.
 
The opponent whom Siena holds its most notable history against is Pac-12 foe Stanford. The No. 14 seed Siena upset third-seeded and 13^th ranked Stanford 80-78 in the program's first-ever NCAA Tournament game on Mar. 16, 1989 in Greensboro, North Carolina. The Saints have also faced the Cardinal twice more in recent times, and upset 20^th ranked Stanford once more by a score of 79-67 on Nov. 17, 2007 in Albany.  
 
Tickets will be available for purchase following the announcement of the complete tournament schedule later this summer. In the meantime, fans can secure up to $25 off each all-tournament ticket by signing up for the pre-sale at www.espneventsinvitational.com.
 
ESPN Events
ESPN Events, a division of ESPN, owns and operates a portfolio of collegiate sporting events nationwide. In 2022, the 32-event schedule includes three early-season college football kickoff games, 17 college bowl games, 11 college basketball events, and a college softball event, which account for approximately 400 hours of live programming, while reaching nearly 64 million viewers and attracting over 800,000 annual attendees. With satellite offices in more than 10 cities across the country, ESPN Events builds relationships with conferences, schools and local communities, as well as providing unique experiences for teams and fans.