The Utah men's basketball team is set to play in the 2023 Shriners Children's Charleston Classic hosted by ESPN Events for the upcoming 2023-24 season in Charleston, S.C. A complete tournament schedule and bracket will be released at a later date this summer.

"We are thrilled to participate in one of the premiere annual MTEs in the country," said Utah head men's basketball coach Craig Smith. "This event is loaded with a combination of high-level basketball programs with rich traditions of excellence and programs that been very good over recent years. The City of Charleston is a fantastic destination for our fans with its rich history, heritage and known for its great hospitality. ESPN Events has a tremendous reputation for running first-class events so we are excited to compete in the Shriners Children's Charleston Classic!"

Joining the Runnin' Utes in the eight-team tournament will be Dayton, Houston, LSU, North Texas, St. John's, Towson and Wake Forest. The three-day MTE will be played inside TD Arena and run the third weekend of November on the 16, 17 and 19. The tournament will be just the second time Utah has competed in the State of South Carolina with the last time coming in 2019 when the Utes were a part of the Myrtle Beach Invitational in Conway, S.C.

Utah is a combined 14-12 against the seven other teams competing in the tournament while Towson is the only team the Utes have never played against in program history.

The Utes are 1-1 all-time against Dayton, who have served as the first-four hosts since its inception in 2011. Both games between the Runnin' Utes and Flyers have come on a neutral floor in pre-season tournaments. The first game came on Dec. 20, 1955, when the third-ranked Runnin' Utes fell to the fourth-ranked Flyers 77-73 in the Kentucky Tournament. Utah would get its revenge three years later against a No. 20-ranked Dayton team in the Holiday Festival in New York, 79-70.

Utah and Houston have only met once in the history of both programs. The Runnin' Utes opened the Suntory Classic in Tokyo against a Phi Slama Jama squad that had just advanced to the Final Four after winning the NCAA Midwest Regional the previous season. Utah dropped its opening game of the tournament to the 14th-ranked Cougars 82-57 on Dec. 17, 1982.

The Runnin' Utes have faired well against the Tigers of LSU and lead the all-time series 4-1 with the latest victory coming in the second round of the NIT – which was played inside the Jon M. Huntsman Center in 2018. The Utes are 3-0 against the Tigers at home and 1-1 versus LSU in Baton Rouge.

North Texas, who won the 2023 NIT Championship, finished last season 31-7 overall and trails the all-time series against Utah (0-1). The lone meeting between the two programs occurred on Dec. 22, 1986, in favor of the Utes 79-66 in SLC. The Mean Green will be under first-year head coach Ross Hodge after Grant McCasland took over at Texas Tech. Hodge served as the associate head coach under McCasland all six years they were together in Denton before taking over for his predecessor.

St. John's will also partake in the eight-team tournament under the direction of first-year head coach Rick Pitino – who is just one of nine active head coaches in Division I with 700-plus career victories after Jim Boeheim retired at the end of this past season. Utah trails the all-time series 8-6 with all 14 games played on neutral floors. Utah won the last meeting between the Runnin' Utes and Red Storm back on March 12, 1977, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament 72-68.

Towson and Utah will square off for the first time in program history should they take the court against one another in the tournament. The Tigers went 21-12 overall last season with a 12-6 mark in Colonial Athletic Association action. Pat Skerry will enter his 13th season at the helm of Towson basketball in 2023-24.

Last, but not least, is Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons went 19-14 last season and 10-10 in ACC action under third-year head coach Steve Forbes. The all-time series is squared away at 2-2 between the two teams with the first two meetings between the two programs being the most memorial with Tim Duncan and Keith Van Horn dueling it out before the pair went 1-2 in the 1997 NBA Draft.