PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — The 69th annual Portsmouth Invitational Tournament tips off Wednesday night at Churchland High School and runs through Saturday night.

It’ll feature 64 of the top senior men’s college basketball players in the country, including the ACC Player of the Year in Wake Forest’s Tyree Appleby, North Carolina’s Pete Nance, San Diego State’s Nathan Mensah and the Norfolk State duo of Kris Bankston and Joe Bryant Jr., the latter of which was originally left out of the field.

Norfolk State’s Joe Bryant Jr. after beating rival Hampton on February 4, 2023. (Courtesy of HBCU Legacy Classic)

Bryant Jr., the two-time reigning MEAC and HBCU Player of the Year, told WAVY he’s looking to “prove people wrong” on his home turf.

The players are assigned to one of eight teams, who’ll battle each other over the course of four days for the P.I.T. championship (sadly, Bryant Jr. and Bankston are on separate teams).

The action starts with two games on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. The four other teams will start on Thursday at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m., with a game between the losers of game 1 and game 2 earlier on Thursday at 3:15 p.m.

Tyree Appleby of Wake Forest reacts after making a three-pointer against North Carolina on Feb. 7, 2023. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)

Winners of the previous games will then play Friday night at 7 and 9, with games starting at 11 a.m. on Saturday before the title game on Saturday night at 7. Here’s the full schedule.

NSU’s Bryant Jr. plays at 9 p.m. Wednesday for Portsmouth Partnership, against Texas’ Sir’Jabari Rice and Oral Roberts’ 7-foot-5 big man Connor Vanover K&D Rounds Landscaping. The 7 p.m. game between Portsmouth Sports Club and Mike Duman Auto Sales features Nance and Gonzaga’s Rasir Bolton against Liberty’s Darius McGhee and two all-ACC players in Clemson’s Tyson Hunter and Pittsburgh’s Jamarius Burton.

Bankston plays at 7 p.m. Thursday night for Jani-King, against the Roger Brown’s squad featuring Virginia Tech’s Justin Mutts and UCLA’s David Singleton III.

Appleby, the ACC POTY, joins the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year in Marshall’s Taevion Kinsey in the 9 p.m. game on Thursday, against Mensah, the Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year, and LSU’s KJ Williams, an all-SEC second-team selection, with Sales Systems, Ltd.

Nathan Mensah #31 of San Diego State and teammates during the second half against Florida Atlantic during the Final Four on April 1, 2023. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for kids and are cash-only at the door each night. You can also buy a ticket package for all four nights for $35 at the Portsmouth Welcome Center on High Street.

Last year’s tournament was won by Sales System, Ltd., with a lineup including Houston’s Josh Carlton, Syracuse’s Cole Swider and Georgia Tech’s Michael Devoe, who won MVP honors with a 25-point performance in the title game.

To see the full team lineups and to get more information, visit the tournament’s website. Maxwell Baumbach with No Ceilings also did a comprehensive write up with scouting reports of each player in the field.