The Dayton, Purdue and Texas A&M women’s basketball teams have withdrawn from the Las Vegas Holiday Hoops Classic taking place Dec. 19-21 at South Point Arena in Las Vegas, the Associated Press reported. This is part of the fallout from last month’s Las Vegas Invitational, which held games inside a ballroom — with no stands for spectators — at The Mirage Hotel and Casino.
The Holiday Hoops Classic is happening in coordination with Destination Basketball, which also ran the Las Vegas Invitational. Aside from the embarrassingly low-key setup for the Thanksgiving weekend event, it also raised safety concerns as there was no medical personnel on site.
Instead of meeting in Las Vegas, Purdue and Texas A&M will play each other in College Station, TX on Dec. 21.
“We are all about giving our players the opportunity to play the game they love,” Texas A&M coach Joni Taylor told the AP in a statement. “Given the circumstances surrounding the Las Vegas Invitational, we decided to withdraw from the tournament. We are very thankful to Purdue for being adaptable and allowing us to host them.”
Campbell, Cleveland State, Jacksonville State, Lindenwood and Utah Tech are still scheduled to compete at the Las Vegas Holiday Hoops Classic.
“The five teams that are going to be at the South Point were five teams we already had,” tournament operations manager Bret Seymour said, via AP. “To be honest, our other five are happy they (the three that withdrew) aren’t there anymore because they like it as a non-Power Five event. We took those three to help. It’s OK. It’s really actually better for us because they’re not there this year for that particular event.”