Morehouse College and Tuskegee University are bringing their historic Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference rivalry to a bigger stage. On Thursday, the NBA announced that the two HBCUs will compete in the 2025 NBA HBCU Classic during the NBA All-Star Weekend in San Francisco. The game will take place on Feb. 15 at Oakland Arena.
“When you talk about the history of two of the greatest institutions, Tuskegee University and Morehouse College, because of the contribution they made to society, now we get a chance to be a part of the celebration with the NBA,” Tuskegee’s athletics director Reginald Ruffin said, according to Andscape. “It’s always a competition. We did what we needed to do footballwise. So now we’re coming up on basketball, and we’re keeping the same energy.”
Morehouse and Tuskegee will each receive $100,000 from the NBA and league partners to support academic resources, athletics and wellness services. Undergraduate and graduate students will also be able to enroll in the NBA HBCU Fellowship Program, which focuses on opportunities in basketball operations.
“One of our key values within the NBA is to innovate with intention,” Lesley Slaton Brown, the NBA’s chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer, said. “So we’re bringing that talent in with some level of understanding already of the league experience and or team experience and we’re saying, ‘Help us create a better experience. Bring in new ideas.'”
She added, “We’ll continue to make commitments and challenge ourselves to be better, to do better, and to create an experience that really amplifies the space of HBCUs and gets people excited.”
Harold Ellis, Morehouse’s athletics director and the only athlete in the institution’s history to play in the NBA, noted the significance of the league investing in HBCUs.
“When I was in school at Morehouse, my whole goal was to work in the NBA. Everybody knows this,” he said. “It’s good for these kids. … We didn’t have the opportunity. And now that the NBA is taking claim and taking ownership of the HBCU space, it’s incredible. … Coming to our campus is important because they’ll actually get to see, ‘Hey, the NBA is here. We can work in the NBA, be part of NBA life.’”
Ellis is looking forward to the game against one of Morehouse’s historic rivals.
“I never lost to Tuskegee. I know I had some of my better games against Tuskegee. We used to say we’re gonna beat these guys to sleep,” he said. “It’s a basketball rivalry, but it’s two historic institutions. … We’re both national brands, and I think the fans will really respect that, and fans will come out and understand that it’s a rivalry.”
The NBA HBCU Classic was inaugurated in 2022, with a game opposing Morgan State University and Howard University. Grambling State University and Southern University competed in 2023 before Winston-Salem State University and Virginia Union University were represented in February 2024.
The Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference is the largest HBCU conference in the country and includes 15 institutions, according to Andscape.
“We have high-scoring teams who get after it defensively, and I think the athleticism and the toughness which our teams play with will be on display. … It’s a real good opportunity for the world to see HBCU basketball,” SIAC commissioner Anthony Holloman said. “I know that there are players that are capable of playing professional basketball. This is an opportunity for somebody to showcase themselves for an opportunity in the G League [or] playing overseas.”