Carolina now has even more competition in Vegas.

The Las Vegas Invitational has a great field this year, featuring UNC, Texas, Michigan State and UCLA, all of whom will be ranked in the preseason national polls. The teams will play their opening round games on Thanksgiving Thursday; the winners and losers square off sometime Friday.

Exactly what time those teams play becomes a big question for the tourney organizers, who not only want a sellout at the Orleans Arena but also great TV ratings on Fox Sports 1. Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods threw a monkey wrench into their plans by announcing their $9 million challenge match for Friday, November 23, at the Shadow Creek Golf Course — in Vegas.

College basketball fights for a following that time of the year, anyway. Thanksgiving Day already has a doubleheader, or is it a triple-header, of NFL games. So the first day of the Las Vegas Invitational will already have stiff competition.

The PGA, which owns the rights to the Mickelson-Woods match, has not decided exactly what time they will play and how many spectators they will allow at Shadow Creek to serve as the gallery in this made-for-TV special. They don’t want these two veteran superstars of the game playing on an empty golf course, but since it is pay-per-view over the Turner and AT&T networks, they want most of the people watching from somewhere else.

With match-play of 18 holes and likely TV commercials interspersed, the PGA is expecting a five-hour telecast. Phil and Tiger won’t tee off in the morning, for sure, but at a time when the back nine finishes during late afternoon on the East Coast, unless the PGA installs lights on the course for prime time.

Whatever happens, the buzz of this match will overshadow everything else going on in Vegas, including what may be the best field for a holiday college basketball tournament ever. Question is, will the tourney try showing highlights of the golf along with highlights of the games on their one giant video board in the arena.

The exhibition golf match has great interest because it’s unique and in a different format. Even at the hoop games, fans will find a way to watch on their phones and other devices. So cheering may be for a ball going in the basket – and the hole.