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By TigerRag.com

Posted Aug 20, 2007

LSU Coach John Brady announced Monday the 2007-08 men's basketball schedule that features non-conference home games against Pac-10 teams for the first time since 2002, the Tigers' third appearance on the island of Maui and a trip to Philadelphia for the first-ever Big East/Southeastern Conference challenge.

The Tigers, 17-15 a year ago, will face a minimum of 13 teams that went to post-season play a year ago, including seven that appeared in the NCAA Tournament. That number could go up depending on LSU's second and third day opponents in the EA Sports Maui Invitational.

Oregon State (Dec. 22) and Washington (Dec. 29) will come to the Maravich Assembly Center in return games from a year ago when LSU split with the two teams. The last Pac-10 team to come to Baton Rouge was No. 1-ranked Arizona, a team the Tigers beat, 66-65, in Dec. 2002.

The prestigious EA Sports Maui Invitational field, scheduled Nov. 19-21, has LSU facing Oklahoma State in the first-round of the eight-team tournament. The Tigers will face either host Chaminade or Marquette on the second day of the event that also includes Duke, Illinois, Princeton and Arizona State.

LSU will play 15 home games in the Maravich Center along with two exhibition games. The first exhibition game on Nov. 1 will against Belhaven. The season will open with two games against Louisiana schools as LSU will host Southeastern Louisiana on Nov. 12 and McNeese State on Nov. 14 before leaving for the trip to Maui.

The Tigers will be one of four SEC teams playing in two locations in the first year of the Big East/SEC Challenge and the Tigers will travel on Dec. 6 to Philadelphia's Wachovia Center to take on Villanova in the second game of the doubleheader that also features Providence and South Carolina.

"The schedule for this basketball season is definitely one of the most challenging we have had here at LSU," said Brady, who begins his 11th year as the head coach of the Tigers. "The prestigious Maui Invitational, the SEC/Big East Challenge are two tournament situations that will certainly test our team early on neutral sites. Road games at Wichita State (Dec. 19), Tulane (Jan. 2) and Texas A&M (Jan. 5) will provide additional opportunities for our team to find out about ourselves in a hostile environment."

Included in LSU's home schedule will be a renewal of the cross-town series with Southern University on Dec. 1. The Tigers enter the season with a 62-game home winning streak against Louisiana schools dating back to December 1988.

"Our home games, anchored by Oregon State and Washington of the Pac-10, give our fans an opportunity to see quality teams they do not regularly get to see," said Brady. "Our commitment to play the in-state schools remains, as does our home games in the SEC which is still the toughest conference in the country. We are excited about the opportunities and challenges this schedule brings."

LSU is scheduled to play a minimum of 21 games on regional or national television including six on the ESPN networks. All the games from the EA Sports Maui Invitational will be televised on ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU, while the Big East/SEC Challenge will be available on ESPN. The LSU game at Texas A&M will be carried by ESPNU as part of the Big 12 television package and LSU's home game on Saturday night, Jan. 26, with Arkansas will put the Tigers for the first time in a live game on ESPN Classic.

The Tigers will be featured seven times on the league's regional syndicator, Lincoln Financial Sports, including a rare Sunday conference home game on March 2 against Georgia. LSU will also be televised three times on Fox Sports Net and five times on the CST regional network, including the Oregon State (Dec. 22) and Alabama home games (March 5).

LSU will play eight conference games at home as usual with all five Western Division teams coming to Baton Rouge -- Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Ole Miss and Mississippi State -- along with three of the Eastern Division teams -- Georgia, Tennessee and Kentucky.

The Tigers and Wichita State will meet in Wichita in the second half of a home-and-home series and LSU's visit to A&M will be the first time the Tigers have gone to College Station for a game since 1981. This will be the second straight year the Tigers have traveled to the New Orleans Arena to take on Tulane.

LSU also gets an early start on the season with an exhibition tour to Toronto, Canada, over Labor Day Weekend. The returning players will begin practice this Friday (Aug. 24) to be joined by the newcomers on the first day of school (Aug. 27) before leaving for Toronto on the evening of Aug. 31. The team will play the University of Guelph on Sept. 1, York University on Sept. 2 and the University of Toronto on Sept. 3 before returning home that evening.



LSU 2007-08 Men's Basketball Schedule

All Times Central; Home Games in All CAPS


November

1 -- BELHAVEN (Exhibition), 7 p.m.

6 -- GLOBAL SPORTS (Exhibition), 7 p.m.

12 -- SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA (CST), 7 p.m.

14 -- MCNEESE STATE (CST), 7 p.m.

19 -- vs. Oklahoma State in EA Sports Maui Invitational, (ESPN2), 4 p.m.

20 -- vs. Chaminade or Marquette in EA Sports Maui Invitational (ESPN), 12:30 or 6 p.m.

21 -- TBA in EA Sports Maui Invitational (ESPN)

28 -- NICHOLLS STATE (CST), 7 p.m.


December

1 -- SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY, 1 p.m.

6 -- at Villanova (Big East/SEC Challenge) (ESPN), 8:30 p.m.

15 -- NORTHWESTERN STATE, 7 p.m.

19 -- at Wichita State, 7 p.m.

22 -- OREGON STATE (CST), 2 p.m.

29 -- WASHINGTON (FSN), 2 p.m.


Janurary

2 -- at Tulane (New Orleans Arena), 7 p.m.

5 -- at Texas A&M (ESPNU), 7 p.m.

9 -- *MISSISSIPPI STATE, 7 p.m.

12 -- *at Ole Miss (FSN), 5 p.m.

16 -- *AUBURN, 7 p.m.

19 -- *at Vanderbilt (LF), Noon

26 -- *ARKANSAS (ESPN Classic), 8 p.m.

30 -- *at Auburn, 7 p.m.


February

2 -- *at Alabama, (LF), 2 p.m.

9 -- * TENNESSEE (LF), 2 p.m.

13 -- *at Florida (LF), 7 p.m.

16 -- *KENTUCKY (LF), Noon

20 -- *at Arkansas (LF), 7 p.m.

23 -- *OLE MISS (FSN), 5 p.m.

27 -- * at South Carolina, 6:30 p.m.


MARCH

2 -- * GEORGIA (LF), 1 p.m.

5 -- * ALABAMA (CST), 7 p.m.

8 -- * at Mississippi State, TBA

13-16 -- SEC Tournament (At Atlanta) (LF, CBS)


* denotes SEC games

Scout.com: Tiger Hoops release 2007-08 schedule

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