College hoops, desert sunshine and a seriously good excuse to spend Thanksgiving in Greater Palm Springs
There are Thanksgiving traditions, and then there are traditions that involve 70-degree desert days, resort pools, mountain views and enough college basketball to keep even the most committed hoops fan happily occupied from brunch until bedtime.
Enter the 2026 Acrisure Series, returning to Acrisure Arena in the Coachella Valley from November 21–26. This year’s Thanksgiving event brings 26 Division I programs and 26 games across six days, with teams including USC, Stanford, LSU, Arizona State, SMU, South Carolina, Grand Canyon, Utah State, Colorado and plenty more. Tickets for the Thanksgiving event start at $25 plus fees.
And as if that lineup weren’t enough, Duke takes on Washington State on November 21 in a separate-ticket Acrisure Series showcase.
In other words: if you’ve ever wanted to swap the couch-and-leftovers version of Thanksgiving for a full-on desert sports getaway, this might be the year.
1. You Can Watch an Absurd Amount of College Basketball in One Place
This isn’t a tournament where you fly across the country to see one game and spend the rest of the weekend figuring out what to do.
At the Acrisure Series, the basketball keeps coming.
Sunday alone features five games, starting with San Diego vs. Fordham and finishing with San José State vs. Loyola Chicago. Tuesday brings Grand Canyon vs. Saint Louis and Stanford vs. Colorado in the evening, while Wednesday serves up Arizona State vs. LSU, USC vs. South Carolina and SMU vs. Utah State before the day’s championship games.
Then there’s Thanksgiving Day itself: South Carolina vs. Arizona State, Utah State vs. USC and SMU vs. LSU.
Translation: you can have turkey and a tripleheader.
See the full 2026 Acrisure Series schedule [this leads to an error page]
2. The Setting Is Basically the Opposite of a Freezing College Gym in November
Here’s the unfair advantage the Acrisure Series has over just about every other Thanksgiving basketball event in America: it’s in Greater Palm Springs.
Between games, you’re in the Coachella Valley – not battling snowbanks in a college town. That opens the door to the kind of Thanksgiving itinerary that sounds almost suspiciously good: coffee on a sunny patio, a morning round of golf, a few hours of basketball, dinner under the palms and maybe a pool or spa session before doing it all over again.
Acrisure Arena is a modern, 11,000-plus-capacity venue in Palm Desert, so you’re getting big-event energy without sacrificing the destination-weekend feel.
This is college basketball with a vacation attached.
3. The Matchups Give You Plenty to Root For – even If Your Alma Mater Isn’t Playing
Sure, alumni will arrive wearing school colors. But you don’t need a diploma from one of the participating universities to have a good time.
USC vs. South Carolina? That’s an easy Wednesday-afternoon sell. Stanford vs. Colorado under the desert lights? We’re listening. Arizona State vs. LSU followed the next day by South Carolina vs. Arizona State? Now you’ve suddenly got opinions about teams you weren’t thinking about a week ago.
And then there’s Duke vs. Washington State on opening night, a standalone November 21 matchup featuring one of the most recognizable names in college basketball. The game requires its own ticket, making it an easy marquee add-on to a full Saturday in the desert.
That’s part of the fun of an event like this: arrive loyal to one school, leave emotionally invested in three others.
4. Going to More Games Might Actually Be the Smart Move
Here’s where the value starts to get interesting.
Official Thanksgiving-event tickets start at $25 plus fees, making it possible to build a full day of basketball without treating every game like a major-league splurge.
And if you’re planning to make a few days of it, check the official ticket options for any available discounted passes, packages or multi-session offers. When you’ve got 26 games happening across six days, bundling more basketball into the trip can be a much better move than buying your plans one session at a time.
Because once you’re already in the Coachella Valley, surrounded by college hoops all week, convincing yourself to attend less basketball is probably going to be the hard part.
5. Stay Where the Teams Are Staying – and Turn the Weekend Into a Resort Vacation
Perhaps the best reason not to make this a day trip: Acrisure Series fans can book special fan rates at the official host hotel, La Quinta Resort & Club.
That means your hotel isn’t just where you crash after the final buzzer. It becomes part of the event.
At La Quinta Resort & Club, you can wake up beneath the Santa Rosa Mountains, grab breakfast, spend the morning by the pool or on the golf course, head to Acrisure Arena for an afternoon and evening of basketball, then come back for dinner and a nightcap under the desert sky.
And because it’s the event’s official host resort, you’re staying where participating teams are staying—putting you right in the middle of the Acrisure Series atmosphere even when you’re away from the arena.
It’s the kind of detail that turns a basketball trip into a story you’ll still be talking about months later.
Stay where the teams stay. Play where the desert plays. Then head courtside.
Book the Acrisure Series fan rate at La Quinta Resort & Club
Make Thanksgiving a Road Trip This Year
The Acrisure Series runs November 21–26, 2026 at Acrisure Arena in Palm Desert, with six straight days of college basketball and Thanksgiving-week matchups featuring programs from across the country.
Tickets are on sale now, with Thanksgiving-event tickets starting at $25 plus fees.
Come for your team. Stay for the desert. And maybe rethink what Thanksgiving weekend is supposed to look like.