Walkup Joins Team Hines TBT Squad, Will Compete for $2 Million Grand Prize
7/31/2019 4:03:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Team Hines takes on Team Brotherly Love at 8:00 p.m. Friday night on ESPN2
The Basketball Tournament 2019 Schedule | Team Hines Roster | All TBT Rosters | Tickets
CHICAGO - Former SFA men's basketball great Thomas Walkup recently put the finishing touches on his inaugural season with BC Žalgiris Kaunas of the Lithuanian Basketball League and now he's headed back to the United States in search of a big-time payday.
The Deer Park, Texas, product is one of 16 players who are on Team Hines - one of the last eight teams standing in The Basketball Tournament. The TBT is a 64-team, single-elimination tournament for $2 million. Now in its sixth season, the TBT games take place in July and August and air on the ESPN family of networks. The bracket was broken into eight regional sites across the country, with the eight regional champions advancing on to Championship Weekend which is held August 1-6 at Wintrust Arena in Chicago.
Without the aid of Walkup, team Hines claimed the TBT Greensboro Regional title with a 73-68 triumph over Team CP3 on Sunday, July 21, in order to move on to Championship Weekend. Walkup will make his Team Hines debut on the TBT's Championship Weekend and is set to play alongside former collegiate greats Nick Calathes (Florida), Mike James (Lamar), Aaron White (Iowa) and a host of others as Team Hines battles Team Brotherly Love at 8:30 p.m. on ESPN2.
Should Walkup and Team Hines take down Team Brotherly Love, they would advance to the TBT Championship Weekend semifinals at 1:00 p.m. Sunday afternoon - a bout which would be featured on ESPN. The TBT's $2 million championship game is set for 8:00 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 6, and will be televised on ESPN and the ESPN app.
Few players put forth as splendid of a career as Walkup did during his four seasons in a Lumberjack uniform. With Walkup on their side, the 'Jacks advanced to three NCAA Tournaments (2014, 2015, 2016), captured four Southland Conference regular season titles and collected both of the program's NCAA Tournament victories.
Upon the conclusion of his career, Walkup had amassed a vast collection of personal hardware including a pair of AP All-America Honorable Mentions (2015, 2016), two Southland Conference Player of the Year (2015, 2016) citations and the Lou Henson Player of the year (2016). He currently stands as the program's NCAA Division I era leader in career points (1,744), rebounds (754), field goals made (633) and is the program's all-time leader in career wins (116).
For more information regarding the TBT and to purchase tickets to Championship Weekend in Chicago, visit the links at the top of this release.
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