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Men's Basketball Opens Season With Pac-12 China Game

November 01, 2019 | Men's Basketball

The 2019-20 season, in which many are anticipating as a historical one for the University of Colorado men's basketball team, begins next week with a historical journey.
 
The Buffaloes are headed to Shanghai, China, on Saturday for an eight-day trip that will culminate with the season-opener against Arizona State. The two league rivals will meet in the fifth edition of the Pac-12 China Game presented by Alibaba Group. Longtime Pac-12 Conference partner Federation of University Sports of China (FUSC), which operates under China's Ministry of Education, will serve as the co-host for the game.
 
The game will take place on Friday, Nov. 8, at 8:30 p.m. MST and air live on ESPN2 (Saturday, Nov. 9, 11:30 a.m. in Shanghai). The matchup between Colorado and Arizona State will not count as a conference contest as the teams are slated to meet only once during the Pac-12 regular season - on Jan. 16 in Tempe - as part of the league's annual 18-game rotation model.
 
The Pac-12 China Game is the flagship event of Pac-12 Global, designed to grow the global popularity of Pac-12 athletic programs and universities, fostering cultural exchange through sport, and creating unique educational experiences for Pac-12 student-athletes. China is also an important country for CU Boulder recruiting. More than 1,100 Chinese students study at CU Boulder; they represent the campus' largest population of international students.
 
Colorado will spend time with children from the Yao Ming Foundation. Founded by the Hall of Fame basketball player, the Yao Ming Foundation was created to improve the lives of children in the U.S. and China. The Buffaloes will have lunch and interact with the Yao Ming Foundation kids on Tuesday at Shanghai Disney and participate in a basketball clinic at Alibaba on Thursday.
 
Along with the kids clinic, the Buffaloes will take part in educational activities at Alibaba, China's leading e-commerce company. The Pac-12's partnership with the Alibaba Group is what has allowed the conference to fund team travel and other costs for this annual event.
 
There will be time for sightseeing in China's largest city, with roughly 24 million people. The Buffaloes are set to tour Yu Garden and Jade Buddha Temple, a scenic area over 400 years old, highlighting ancient Chinese architecture. A trip to Shanghai's Starbucks, considered the world's largest, is also on the docket.
 
On Wednesday, Colorado will play an exhibition game in Suzhou, a city outside of Shanghai. The Buffaloes will play Peking University of Beijing, in a game that will tip bright and early in Boulder – 1 a.m. Mountain (4 p.m. in China).
 
Aside from players and coaches, members of Colorado's Spirit Squad and Chip the mascot will be in attendance on the trip along with CU Boulder Chancellor Phil DiStefano and Athletic Director Rick George. Some members of the Colorado delegation will attend a U.S.-China University Sports Summit on Friday. Topics at the summit are scheduled to include "US/China Collaboration in Higher Education" and "Impact of Athletics to Community."
 
The Buffaloes will return to the U.S. on Sunday, Nov. 10. Colorado's home opener is the following Saturday, Nov. 16, against San Diego, 8 p.m., at the CU Events Center.
 
This will be the first intercollegiate regular season event for a Colorado Athletics program in China, or the Eastern Hemisphere for that matter. The Buffaloes have played in a handful of regular season events outside the continental United States. Both basketball programs have played in Puerto Rico; the men in 1998-99 and the women in 2005-06.
 
Colorado's men's and women's golf teams have both competed in Mexico and Puerto Rico, and the women played in a tournament in the Dominican Republic in March 2019.

Many Colorado student-athletes have taken advantage of out-of-season foreign tours or World University Games competitions over the last couple of decades. The Buffaloes' volleyball team took a 10-day tour of China this past June, which included three exhibition games.
 
Nine Buffaloes on the current men's basketball roster were part of the team's preseason foreign tour to Italy in August 2017.