Virginia Union University’s basketball team will be staying in Richmond this year to take on CIAA rival Virginia State University, rather than heading to New York.

The trip to the Barclays Center for the Big Apple Classic, originally set for Sunday, Dec. 6, has been called off. The classic, which Richmond-based Johnson Inc. stages and which features CIAA and MEAC teams, will not be held this year because of a conflict with the NBA.

As a result, VUU will face the Trojans in the “Battle of I-95 South” at the 6,000-seat Arthur Ashe Athletic Center in Richmond at 4 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 6. Tickets are $20, with a $5 discount for senior citizens and veterans and a $10 discount for visiting students with an ID.

This is the third time in the past nine years that a scheduling conflict has benched the Big Apple Classic.

This year, the tournament’s date was lost to the Brooklyn Nets, the home team at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

The Nets will be taking on the Golden State Warriors that Sunday, prime time for the classic.

The Big Apple Classic traditionally features VUU and a CIAA rival, either VSU or Bowie State University, and two teams from the MEAC Conference,

“The NBA has first claim on the center,” said Jasmine Robertson, spokesperson for Johnson Inc. marketing and public relations firm.

She said the Big Apple Classic plans to return to the Barclays Center in December 2016.

“We have a multiyear contract,” she said, with the hope that the NBA will not bump the tournament again.