Illinois basketball will play in the Emerald Coast Classic in November, the tournament officially announced on Thursday.

Iowa State, Oregon and Florida also will play in the two-game event which takes place Nov. 27-29 at The Arena on the campus of Northwestern Florida State College in Destin (Fla.).

Illinois will also host two on-campus games, to be announced, among the other four teams in the field, including Alabama A&M, Lousiana-Monroe, McNeese State and North Florida.

“The Emerald Coast Classic is a great event and will be a great time for our players,” Illinois coach Brad Underwood said in a statement. “We look forward to playing against good competition and be able to play in front of our strong Florida alumni base. We are really excited to play in the 2020 Emerald Coast Classic in Florida.”

The Emerald Coast Classic strengthens an already tough 2020-21 nonconference schedule. The tournament provides Illinois with two tough high-major opponents to go along with a nonconference schedule that will include a game against an ACC opponent (ACC/Big Ten Challenge), a Dec. 12 home game against Arizona, a neutral site game against Missouri and possibly a game against a Big East team in the Gavitt Games.

Illinois played in the Emerald Coast Classic in 2015, beating UAB 72-58 before losing to Iowa State 84-73 in the championship round. Illinois lost to Chattanooga (81-77) and scraped by Chicago State (82-79) in the opening rounds.

This season, Illinois went without a Thanksgiving week tournament. Last season, Illinois participated in the Maui Invitational and went 0-3.

“We’re proud to assemble another tremendous field for the Emerald Coast Classic, attracting some of the top collegiate basketball programs in the nation,” tournament director Maury Hanks said in a statement“The word is quickly spreading around the country about the strong reputation of our tournament in drawing teams from the best conferences in college basketball.”

EMERALD COAST CLASSIC HISTORY

2019 — Florida State, champion; Purdue, runner-up

2018 — Cincinnati, champion; Mississippi, runner-up

2017 — TCU, champion; St. Bonaventure, runner-up

2016 — Virginia, champion; Providence, runner-up

2015 — Iowa State, champion; Illinois, runner-up

2014 — Mississippi, champion; Cincinnati, runner-up