The Canisius men's basketball program is among eight teams in the 2015 Continental Tire Las Vegas Classic, tournament organizers announced today. The Golden Griffins will play two non-conference games in the Classic on the road Dec. 10 and Dec. 12 before traveling to Las Vegas for a pair of neutral-site non-league games Dec. 22-23. The games in Las Vegas will be played in the Orleans Arena, which is located just west of the Vegas strip and was recently named the No. 1 mid-sized arena in the United States by Venues Today magazine.

Canisius will start its play in the exempt-event on Thursday, Dec. 10, when the Blue and Gold travels to play Penn State in State College, Pa. This will be the third all-time meeting between the two teams, and it will mark the first match-up between the Griffs and the Nittany Lions since the 2007-08 campaign. On Saturday, Dec. 12, the Griffs are scheduled to play at Kent State. The Golden Flashes won 23 games in 2014-15 and earned a share of the Mid-American Conference regular-season championship. Like Canisius, Kent State ended up advancing to the quarterfinal round of the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament, where the team saw its season come to an end with an overtime loss at Northern Arizona. Canisius and Kent State have played three times previously in a series that dates back to 1972. The game this December will mark the first meeting between the two schools on the hardwood since Dec. 31, 1983, a 65-63 overtime victory at home for the Griffs.

On Dec. 22, Canisius will take on Louisiana Monroe (ULM) at 5:30 p.m., Eastern in Orleans Arena. The Warhawks went 24-14 last season to go with a 14-6 mark in Sun Belt Conference play. ULM advanced to the finals of the CBI, where the team lost in the championship round to Loyola University (Chicago). The game against ULM will be the first in Canisius' program history. On Dec. 23, the Griffs will play either Hampton or Nicholls State, with a game time to be determined. A meeting with either school will be the first in school history.

Colorado and SMU will take part in the Continental Tire Las Vegas Classic. FOX Sports 1 will televise the Continental Tire Las Vegas Classic third-place and championship games on Wednesday, Dec. 23, at 9 p.m., and 11:30 p.m. Eastern time.  Past champions of the Continental Tire Las Vegas Classic include Kansas State (2008), Alabama (2009), New Mexico (2010), Baylor (2011), Colorado State (2012), UNLV (2013) and Loyola University (Chicago) (2014).

Tickets for the final rounds in Las Vegas are available through the Orleans Arena box office by phone at (702) 284-7777 or online by clicking here.

Canisius went 18-15 overall and 11-9 in MAAC play last season. Canisius' trip to the CIT marked the program's third-straight postseason appearance. The Griffs return two starters and seven letterwinners from last year's roster.