KU to play November 2025 tournament in San Diego, per report

photo by: Nick Krug

Kansas head coach Bill Self encourages his players to move the ball during the second half of an exhibition on Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024 at Allen Fieldhouse.

The Kansas men’s basketball team will take part in a tournament in San Diego in November 2025, according to a report on Friday morning.

Jon Rothstein of College Hoops Today reports that the Jayhawks will be featured in the four-team field of the Rady Children’s Invitational, along with Florida, Providence and Wisconsin.

Next year’s edition of the tournament will be the third. Last year’s inaugural event featured Oklahoma, Iowa, Seton Hall and USC; this year’s includes BYU, NC State, Ole Miss and Purdue. Both have been located in LionTree Arena on the campus of UC San Diego.

KU leads its series with Florida 4-2, having most recently beaten the Gators in Lawrence in 2014. The Jayhawks’ lone meeting with Providence was a narrow victory in the 2022 NCAA Tournament on the way to KU’s national title. And KU and Wisconsin met in a Thanksgiving week tournament just two years ago, when the Jayhawks beat the Badgers in overtime in the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas.

KU took part in the Maui Invitational last year and does not have as extensive a November tournament this season, though it will play Duke in Las Vegas on Nov. 26 and Furman in Lawrence four days later as part of the Vegas Showdown.

Past KU games in San Diego include a victory over the University of San Diego in 1995 and two more against San Diego State in 1978 and 2015. Current KU walk-on Dillon Wilhite is a native of San Diego.

The 2025-26 schedule also includes a road game against North Carolina in Chapel Hill on Nov. 14, 2025, and a Champions Classic matchup against Duke at Madison Square Garden four days later. KU and Missouri are expected to renew their rivalry at the T-Mobile Center at some point during the nonconference slate.