Jerrod Calhoun Reveals Bearcats Playing In Thanksgiving Tournament During First Season, 2026-27 Schedule Toughens

It's been awhile since Cincinnati played in one of these.

Cincinnati head coach Jerrod Calhoun speaks during a press conference announcing him as the head men's basketball coach at Fifth Third Arena in Cincinnati on Wednesday, March 25, 2026. | Albert Cesare/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Bearcats are playing in a holiday tournament this Thanksgiving. 

UC head coach Jerrod Calhoun noted on ESPN 1530's Mo Egger Show that Cincinnati is playing in the Orlando Events Invitational, which features two games against power opponents.

Back In The Holiday Spotlight

Jan 11, 2025; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; The Cincinnati logo is seen on a pair of Air Jordan shoes worn by a member of the Cincinnati Bearcats before the game against the Kansas Jayhawks at Fifth Third Arena. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-Imagn Images | Aaron Doster-Imagn Images

It's going to be a loaded schedule to tune up Calhoun's $10-plus million NIL roster budget depth chart for next season. Cincinnati is playing five-plus power conference opponents in the non-conference schedule for the first time since 2019.

It marks their first major Multi-Team Event since the 2022 Maui Invitational.

"Yeah, I can answer it. We have six," Calhoun said on Friday about the schedule, which also includes Clemson, Louisville, Dayton, and Xavier. "You'd be the first for me to publicly say that, but we've got six games, all really, really good games. We will be in Orlando for Thanksgiving. So those teams will be announced. I don't think I can announce those. It's going to be a phenomenal tournament. We played in it two years ago. So very familiar with those guys. They do a great job around Thanksgiving. And obviously, we've got Xavier, Clemson, Dayton, and Louisville, so six really, really difficult games. So we got to be very strategic with the rest of the schedule."

It's all systems go for this program as UC fires into a fun holiday tournament that will be featured nationally.

The top bracket of the wide-ranging, three-tier tournament featured BYU, Miami (FL), Dayton, and Georgetown last season. So whoever joins the fray with UC should be a strong opponent.

That juiced schedule plus news that the NCAA Tournament is likely to expand to 76 teams next season means Cincinnati is more than primed to go dancing again if they can just mine out 19-22 wins. Calhoun surely wants more.

"I think Cincinnati basketball means so much to so many people, and we want to get it back," Calhoun said in his opening week on the job. "We want to get back in the NCAA tournament. And it really starts right now ... We're going to need the help of a lot of people, and it's one of the best fan bases, if not the best fan base, in the country. We got to really, really work at this thing every day." 

The transfer portal awaits next week, with no UC players publicly announcing an entry so far. We will have all the roster movement covered here across the Cincinnati Bearcats on SI.

Check out the ESPN 1530 segment with Calhoun below:

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