Calvin University will be the host of the prestigious Great Lakes Invitational this Friday and Saturday at Van Noord Arena. The eight-team men's basketball tournament will feature four games on Friday and four more games on Saturday.

Live video streams of the eight games will be available at: 2024 GLI Live Stream Links
Live stas coverages of the eight games will be available at: 2024 GLI Live Stats

Tickets for the tournament will be available at the main ticket booth on the days of competition and can also be purchased online at: https://calvin.universitytickets.com/

Ticket prices are as follows:

*Calvin Faculty, Students & Staff and Children 12 & Under: Free
*Full Day Pass General Admission: $15.00
*Full Day Pass Non-Calvin students: $12.00

*Full Day Pass Senior Citizens $12.00
*Split session (either 1 and 3 or 5:30 & 7:30)  General Admission: $10.00
*Split session (either 1 and 3 or 5:30 & 7:30)  Non Calvin-Students: $7.00
*Split session (either 1 and 3 or 5:30 & 7:30)  Senior Citizens $7.00

In addition to local schools from Calvin and Hope competing, the invitational will include teams from Emory, John Carroll, Johns Hopkins, Marietta, Saint John's and Wisconsin-Lacrosse.
Five of the eight schools are nationally-ranked and all eight have extensive NCAA III Tournament experience in their program history.

John Carroll is the highest ranked team in the eight-team field with the Blue Streaks coming in at No. 3 in the D3hoops.com Top 25 poll. The Emory University Eagles are ranked eighth, Calvin ninth, Saint John's 12^th,  and Hope 21^st.

The tournament will also feature four pre-season D3hoop.com All-Americans in Luke Chicone (1^st Team) and Luke Frazier (4^th Team) from John Carroll and Uchenna Egekeze (2^nd Team) from Calvin.

Calvin This Season: Ranked ninth in the preseason D3hoops.com top 25 poll after reaching the Elite Eight of the NCAA III Tournament last season, the Knights are looking for their first win of the season after an 0-4 start. Two of the Knights' defeats have come against ranked opponents (No.2 UW-Platteville and No.24 Cal Lutheran). Owen Varnado leads the Knights in the early going in points (16.5) and rebounds (7.8) per game, while preseason All-American Uchenna Egekeze is averaging 15.0 points per game. Calvin is under the direction of head coach Bill Sall who is in his sixth season as Calvin head men's basketball coach. He has led Calvin to a pair of NCAA III Tournaments and two MIAA regular season titles. A year ago he led Calvin to the Elite Eight and in 2022 he led the Knights to the Sweet 16 with Calvin capturing MIAA regular season crowns in 2023 and 2024. He is no stranger to Calvin as he was a two-time Division III All-American for the Knights as a power forward between 1985-1990 and a senior captain on a 1990 NCAA III Final Four team.
 
Emory This Season: The Eagles were ranked eighth in the D3hoops.com preseason poll and are off to a 2-0 start to the season with wins over Berry College (91-71) and 17th-ranked Guiford College (75-61). Jair Knight and Ben Pearce are both averaging 23.0 points per game to lead Emory so far this season. Both players earned All-UAA First Team and All-Region recognition last season after averaging 17.5 and 16.4 points per game, respectively. Emory is led by head coach Jason Zimmerman who is in his 17^th year at the helm of the Emory men's basketball program. He has won 290 games as head coach of Emory and led the Eagles to 10 NCAA III Tournament berths including an Elite Eight appearance in 2014 and Sweet 16 appearances in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2018. In addition, he has led Emory to six University Athletic Association regular season titles. Zimmerman is a native of Warsaw, Indiana. He is a graduate of Davidson University and is the school's No. 18 leading scorer in men's basketball with 1,260 points. He has also served as a Division I assistant coach at the University of Evansville.
 
Hope This Season: The Flying Dutchmen were ranked 21st in the D3hoops.com preseason poll and have a 2-1 record entering the weekend following wins over Wilmington College (74-64) and Wittenberg College (68-63) last week. Gabe Quillan leads Hope with averages of 17.7 points and 8.3 rebounds per game. Josh Decker has come off the bench the first three games and shot 50.0 percent from downtown while averaging 15.0 points per game. Hope is under the direction of veteran head coach Greg Mitchell who is in his 11^th season at the helm of the Hope men's basketball program. Mitchell is a 1989 graduate of Hope where he was a sharp-shooting guard from the perimeter. He was a part of three NCAA III Tournament teams as a player. As head coach of the Hope men's basketball program, he has fashioned a won-loss record of 185-85 that includes four MIAA regular season championships, four MIAA Tournament titles and six trips to the NCAA III Tournament. A year ago, Hope captured the MIAA Tournament title including a win over eventual Division III National Champion Trine University. The Flying Dutchmen then defeated Anderson University (Ind.) in the NCAA III Tournament before bowing out in the second round with a loss to Case Western Reserve University.
 
John Carroll This Season: The preseason number three team in the nation according to D3hoops.com, the Blue Streaks are off to a 3-0 start. Preseason All-American Luke Chicone is averaging 18.0 points and 6.3 assists per season after earning Second Team All-America honors from the website last season. Will Yontek and Luke Frazier join him in double figures this season, averaging 14.7 and 14.3 points per game, respectively. John Carroll is under the direction of head coach Pete Moran who is in his eighth year as head coach of the Blue Streaks. Moran is also no stranger to the John Carroll program as he graduated from John Carroll in 2008 after a four-year collegiate basketball career playing for his father Mike Moran who was the long-time head coach of the John Carroll men's basketball program. As a player, he was part of the most historic stretch in John Carroll with the Blue Streak winning three Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) titles and three NCAA III Tournament appearances including a trip to the 2004 NCAA III Final Four. Pete Moran later served as an assistant coach under his father Mike before taking over as head coach of the John Carroll program in 2017.
 
Johns Hopkins This Season: The Blue Jays are 2-1 in the early non-conference season with wins over Marymount University (75-69) and York College (70-56) before a defeat at Salisbury University (69-66). Hopkins went 20-7 last season and received votes in the D3hoops.com preseason poll. This season the Blue Jays are led by John Windley, who averages 22.0 points and 9.0 rebounds per game while making three three-pointers per game. Johns Hopkins is led by second-year head coach Ryan Cain. Cain was appointed head coach of the Johns Hopkins program in June of 2023 after spending the previous eight seasons as head coach of Keene State University. At Keene State, Cain was 146-66 which included five trips to the NCAA III Tournament including an Elite Eight appearance in 2017 and Sweet 16 appearances in 2016, 2017 and 2023. Cain is a 2007 graduate of Worcester Polytechnic Institute where he was a standout men's basketball player. He remains the Engineers' all-time leading scorer (1,813 points), won the 2007 Jostens Trophy as the top student-athlete in Division III and was a Third Team NABC and D3hoops.com All-American in 2007 as well.  After graduation, he served as an assistant coach at WPI for eight years before accepting the head job at Keene State.
 
Marietta This Season: The Pioneers finished the 2023-24 season with a 17-10 record and are off to a 3-0 start this season with wins over Mount Aloysius College (118-72), UW-Eau Claire (64-62) and University of Mary Washington (87-82). Marietta has five players currently scoring in double figures each game, led by Jayden Bradshaw at 15.7 points per game. Frank Waganfeald is averaging 13.7 points, 8.0 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game. Marietta is under the direction of veteran head coach Jon VanderWal who is in his 18^th year at the helm of the Pioneer men's basketball program. VanderWal is one of the winningest active Division III coaches with a career won-loss record of 333-136. H has guided Marietta to nine NCAA III Tournament appearances including a Final Four berth in 2022 as well as Elite 8 appearances in 2015 and 2019 and Sweet 16 trips in 2011 and 2017. He has captured eight Ohio Athletic Conference regular season titles and five OAC Tournament titles. VanderWal is familiar to fans of the MIAA as he was a starting guard with the Albion men's basketball team from 1997-2001, graduating from Albion in 2001. He is a native of Cadillac High School.  
 
Saint John's This Season: The Johnnies entered the season ranked 12th in the D3hoops.com preseason poll and are off to a 3-0 start with wins over UW-Oshkosh (73-62), Central College (78-60) and Simpson College (75-52). Kooper Vaughn leads SJU with 16.3 points per game in the early going, while Blake Berg (13.3) and Ryan Thissen (12.7) are also scoring in double figures. Saint John's is led by head coach Pat McKenzie who is in his 10^th year as head coach. McKenzie has fashioned an impressive won-loss record of 177-53 as head coach of the Johnnie program. A year ago he led Saint John's to its 11^th Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) regular season title including its fourth in the last six years. He has led Saint John's to four NCAA III Tournament berths including a Sweet 16 appearance in 2020. McKenzie was the MIAC Coach of the Year in 2023-24. He is a 2004 Saint John's graduate and was a four-year letterwinner at point guard. He led the MIAC in assists as a senior in 2004. He was Director of Basketball Operations at Division I Wisconsin-Green Bay from 2004-2006 before returning to Saint John's to serve as the team's assistant coach. He was named head coach of the Saint John's men's basketball program in April of 2015.
 
UW-La Crosse This Season: The Eagles finished last season with a 14-12 overall record (8-6 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and received votes in the D3hoops.com preseason poll. UWLC is 2-1 so far this season with wins over Gustavus Adolphus College (81-77) and North Park University (91-62) along with an 82-73 defeat to 14th-ranked Nebraska Wesleyan University. Dustin Derousseau leads the Eagles in scoring at 16.3 points per game. Wisconsin-La Crosse is led by second-year head coach JT Gritzmacher. He spent three prior years as head coach of Bryant and Stratton College – a two-year institution located in Oostburg, Wisconsin. At Bryant and Stratton, he compiled a 57-30 record, winning 26 games in his final season as head coach prior to accepting the head position at Wisconsin-La Crosse. He is a 2013 graduate of Wisconsin-Whitewater University.
 
Tournament Schedule:
 
Friday, November 22
UW-La Crosse v. Marietta – 1:00 PM
Saint John's v. Hope – 3:00 PM
John Carroll v. Johns Hopkins – 5:30 PM
Calvin v. Emory – 7:30 PM
 
Saturday, November 23
Hope v. Marietta – 1:00 PM
Johns Hopkins v. UW-La Crosse – 3:00 PM
John Carroll v. Emory – 5:30 PM
Calvin v. St. John's – 7:30 PM