The\u00a0NBA\u00a0will put\u00a0HBCU\u00a0basketball on a national stage when\u00a0Howard University\u00a0and\u00a0Tennessee State\u00a0meet during NBA All-Star Weekend in Phoenix.<\/p>\n
The schools will play in the 2027 NBA HBCU Classic presented by AT&T on Saturday, Feb. 20. The game will take place at Hardwood Central inside Jam Session at the Phoenix Convention Center.<\/p>\n
Tipoff is scheduled for noon Mountain Time. ESPN and NBA TV will broadcast the game nationally.<\/p>\n
Tennessee State will make its first appearance in the event. Howard University returns for the second time after winning the inaugural NBA HBCU Classic in 2022.<\/p>\n
\u201cHoward University and Tennessee State University have longstanding connections to the NBA and basketball traditions that span generations,\u201d NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum said.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0league and AT&T will also donate $50,000 to each university. Since expanding its commitment to HBCUs in 2021, the league says its family of organizations has contributed more than $5.8 million to HBCU institutions, partners and scholarships.<\/p>\n
HBCU programs get NBA All-Star spotlight<\/p>\n
Howard head coach Kenny Blakeney said the opportunity extends beyond basketball.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis experience extends beyond the basketball court and gives Howard students the opportunity to engage with one of the most significant events in sports, culture and entertainment,\u201d Blakeney said.<\/p>\n
Tennessee State head coach Nolan Smith also emphasized the opportunity for his players and university.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo represent Tennessee State on a national platform puts our university, our city, and our alumni in the spotlight \u2014 and our school deserves that opportunity,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n
Both programs have current ties to former pro basketball players.<\/p>\n
Five-time NBA All-Star John Wall serves as Howard University men\u2019s basketball president of basketball operations. Former Tennessee State standout Robert Covington serves as the Tigers\u2019 chief basketball officer.<\/p>\n
Smith also played in the NBA before moving into coaching.<\/p>\n
Foot Locker will continue its support of the event by hosting an introductory experience for both schools during NBA All-Star Weekend. The event will include a competition featuring the schools\u2019 bands and cheer teams.<\/p>\n
Tickets to the NBA HBCU Classic also include admission to NBA Jam Session on Feb. 20.<\/p>\n
For Howard University and Tennessee State, the trip to Phoenix will provide more than another nonconference game.<\/p>\n
It will place two HBCU basketball programs in the middle of one of the basketball\u2019s biggest weekends.<\/p>\n
\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The\u00a0NBA\u00a0will put\u00a0HBCU\u00a0basketball on a national stage when\u00a0Howard University\u00a0and\u00a0Tennessee State\u00a0meet during NBA All-Star Weekend in Phoenix. The schools will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":882207,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[831,13140,136447,370421,355,99],"class_list":["post-882206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-featured","tag-hbcu-sports","tag-howard-university","tag-meac","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/882206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=882206"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/882206\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/882207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=882206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=882206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=882206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}