Full schedule announced for third annual Holiday Hoopsgiving

Eight teams will converge on State Farm Arena in Atlanta in December. Holiday Hoopsgiving is back for a third go-round.

The full schedule was unveiled on Friday, featuring three games on Dec. 10 and a marquee showdown between Notre Dame and Georgia on Dec. 18. Loyola Chicago will take on Clemson, Memphis will face Auburn and Wake Forest matches up with LSU as part of the event.

Last year, Auburn, Clemson and LSU took part in the event and are coming back to play in it once again this coming year. All games will be broadcast on ESPN networks, according to the announcement.

More on the teams in the Holiday Hoopsgiving field

Auburn is coming off a 28-6 season which lifted them to a 2-seed in the NCAA Tournament before a second-round loss against Miami. Memphis is also coming off a second-round loss against 1-seed Gonzaga after a late season push propelled them off the bubble.

Auburn loses two key players to the NBA Draft in Jabari Smith and Walker Kessler, while Memphis also lost two contributors in Jalen Duren and Josh Minott. Both sets of Tigers have remade their roster with big additions and will get an early neutral site test to fine-tune their lineups before conference play begins less than one month later.

Loyola Chicago just joined the Atlantic 10 Conference on Friday and is welcoming a slew of newcomers to the roster. The Ramblers brought in four transfers this offseason, headlined by former Butler big man Bryce Golden.

Notre Dame just lost Blake Wesley to the 2022 NBA Draft and Paul Atkinson Jr. is out of eligibility. Still, the Fighting Irish have Nate Laszewski coming back and a recruiting class led by five-star JJ Starling — the No. 15 player in the nation this year, according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

Georgia and LSU both underwent coaching changes this offseason. Mike White came in from Florida to take over for Tom Crean in Athens while Matt McMahon headed to Baton Rouge from Murray State to replace Will Wade. They both got to work revamping their rosters to compete in a crowded SEC, and they’ll have a chance to get their groups some good experience in December at Holiday Hoopsgiving.

Wake Forest is dealing with some tough losses on its roster led by Alondes Williams, the reigning ACC Player of the Year. Clemson, meanwhile, is coming off an 8-12 season and lost Nick Honor and Al-Amir Dawes to the transfer portal.

On3’s James Fletcher III contributed to this report.