A full house watches Duke and San Diego State play in the 2018 Maui Jim Maui Invitational at Lahaina Civic Center. The tournament returns to the Valley Isle this year, Nov. 21-23, after the last two events were moved to the Mainland due to pandemic restrictions. The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER file photo

For the first time since 2019, the Maui Jim Maui Invitational will be held at the Lahaina Civic Center and tickets for the event go on sale to local residents on Tuesday at 10 a.m. HST, event organizer KemperLesnik said in an email to The Maui News.

The men’s college basketball tournament will run Nov. 21-23 — the first-round matchups on Nov. 21 are Texas Tech vs. Creighton, Louisville vs. Arkansas, Ohio State vs. San Diego State, and Cincinnati vs. Arizona.

Maui residents will be able to purchase either all-day or single-game tickets, which will be available on a first-come-first-served basis. To purchase tickets, residents have to visit mauiinvitational.com — all tickets will be digital this year, no paper tickets will be sold on-island as has been the case in the past.

On average between the two options (all day or single game), the kama’aina discount is about 36 percent, according to KemperLesnik officials.

Single-game ticket discounts are 27 to 50 percent depending on the location, while all-day tickets are around 26 percent less costly.

“We’re super excited to bring the Maui Jim Maui Invitational back to its rightful home on Maui this year after two years away,” tournament director Nelson Taylor said via phone on Tuesday. “The support from our fans and ohana on the island is crucial to our success and bringing great basketball and great teams over. We constantly hear from the teams coming from the Mainland that the atmosphere in the Lahaina Civic Center is unmatched.

“I think you can go back to perhaps (Kansas coach) Bill Self or one of our big-name coaches that the atmosphere certainly rivals the Final Four given the size of the venue and how on top of the player the fans are — I think our fans on Maui are a key part of that.”

There is a limit of two tickets per person per transaction, and all Valley Isle residents must have a Maui billing zip code in order to purchase the tickets. Only Maui residents have access to these tickets, and it will be the first opportunity for anyone to purchase tickets on a single-game basis.

All-day tickets are located in the north grandstands at a center court location — these seats are specifically held for Maui residents and are not sold as part of any fan travel packages.

The same number of tickets are available to locals this year as have been in years past.

“We’re excited to always be able to offer these discounted tickets in some preferred seating locations,” Taylor said. “Making some single-game tickets available to folks on island before they’re available on a single-game basis to anyone else and we’ll always have that allotment held for them and plan on it every year.

“Same amount (of local tickets) as it’s always been, same location. The only difference for us this year is obviously the pandemic has changed some of the things operationally. One thing we are doing is shifting to digital tickets that can be downloaded to your Apple device or to any Android device.”

Taylor is overjoyed to know that the event will be back at the LCC after the pandemic forced it to be held in Asheville, N.C., in 2020, and in Las Vegas in 2021.

“None of it is the same as being on Maui, at the Lahaina Civic Center,” Taylor said. “When you talk to (tournament chairman) Dave Odom he’ll always talk to you about ‘Maui magic’ and we’re excited for that to be back, back home. I’ve been over in the Lahaina Civic Center, there’s some new scoreboards that have gone in the past two years, so that’ll be fun. The decals are still down from (three) years ago.

“It’s almost as if we never left. We have great partners on island, us and the County of Maui, both with the parks department, the mayor’s office, with our hotels, and other folks that support the tournament — we’re excited to see everybody again.”

Taylor said the pandemic has brought several things into perspective for KemperLesnik, including being the best group of visitors that they can be when on Maui.

“We’re going to put on a great return to Maui,” Taylor said. “One thing I think fans can look for as they come to the games is we’re really looking at how we embrace the return through making sure that we’re being responsible in promoting sustainable tourism, and promoting things from recycling and reusable gift bags at our merchandise stand, and really promoting Hawaiian culture in a really appropriate way.”

* Robert Collias is at rcollias@mauinews.com