Oklahoma To Compete In 2015 Diamond Head Classic

The University of Oklahoma men's basketball team will be spending its 2015 Christmas in Hawai'i.

Oklahoma is one of eight teams that will participate in the 2015 Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic at the Stan Sheriff Center in Honolulu, Hawai'i. The field for the seventh annual event — to be played Dec. 22, 23 and 25, 2015 — was announced Sunday and also includes Auburn, BYU, Harvard, New Mexico, Northern Iowa, Washington State and tournament host Hawai'i.

Four of the teams participated in the 2014 NCAA Tournament, including OU, BYU, Harvard and New Mexico.

The Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic will feature 12 games through three days. Each team will compete in one game per day, advancing through the bracket. The two teams that remain undefeated throughout will face off in the championship game on the final day of the tournament.

Previous tournament champions of the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic include USC (2009), Butler (2010), Kansas State (2011), Arizona (2012) and Iowa State (2013). This year's event starts Monday and features Colorado, DePaul, George Washington, Hawai'i, Loyola Marymount, Nebraska, Ohio and Wichita State.

The family-friendly tournament includes three days of tournament play, practices, events and travel experiences unique to the islands of Hawai'i.

Additional information can be found on the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic's official website: www.HawaiianairlinesDiamondHeadClassic.com.

Since Lon Kruger became OU's head coach in 2011, the Sooners have participated in regular season events in Anaheim, Calif., Orlando, Fla., Brooklyn, N.Y., Nassau, Bahamas, and Las Vegas, Nev. OU also traveled to Belgium and France for exhibition games in summer 2013.