LSU releases 2006-07 basketball slate

BATON ROUGE -- The LSU men's basketball team will face 12 teams that went to post-season play including games with two NCAA Sweet 16 and three Elite 8 teams along with hosting the defending NCAA and NIT champions in the 2006-07 schedule announced Tuesday by LSU basketball coach John Brady and the Southeastern Conference office.

Included in the schedule are 18 regular season home games, an exempt tournament in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center over the Christmas holidays and a nationally-televised game against the University of Connecticut to kick off the 2007 portion of the season. The game is scheduled for Jan. 6 on ESPN and the network is tentatively planning to bring its basketball "College Gameday" show to Baton Rouge for that game.

The teams met a season ago in Hartford, Conn., with UConn escaping with a 67-66 decision and the Huskies went on to the Elite 8 in the NCAA Tournament.

The LSU Athletic Council still must approve the schedule. Some game times and Fox Sports Net television games were still to be finalized at this time.

LSU, which finished last year 27-9 and the champions of the Southeastern Conference along with No. 3 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll after a dramatic run through the NCAA Tournament that saw them beat Iona, Texas A&M, No. 1 Duke and No. 9 Texas on the way to the Final Four, will play two of those teams again this year.

LSU will start a home-and-home series with Texas A&M on Dec. 5 at the Maravich Center and will face Texas in a neutral court game at the Toyota Center in Houston in a game to be televised by ESPN2. LSU will play three other non-conference games against tournament opponents -- Nov. 25 in Baton Rouge against Wichita State (NCAA Sweet 16); Dec. 20 at Washington (NCAA Sweet 16); and Dec. 23 at home against Louisiana Tech (NIT). Tech is the last Louisiana school to beat LSU in the Maravich Center.

The Tigers will play both defending tournament champions as well with NCAA champion Florida coming in on Feb. 24 for an afternoon tilt that CBS will televise and two-time defending NIT champs South Carolina is set to come to Baton Rouge for the regular season finale on March 3.

"Our schedule for this coming basketball season is another very challenging one that hopefully will prepare our team for Southeastern Conference play," said Coach Brady. "Home games with nationally-ranked Texas A&M, UConn and Sweet 16 participant Wichita State gives our fans an exciting pre-season schedule here at home. Counting our two exhibition games, there are 20 opportunities for our fans to see us play in the Maravich Assembly Center. There also will be as many as 20 television games which indicates the interest nationally about our program coming off the SEC Championship and the trip to the NCAA Final Four, not to mention the return of SEC Player of the Year Glen Davis. We are excited about our schedule and the opportunities it brings."

LSU will open SEC play on Jan. 10 in Tuscaloosa at Alabama before coming home to play its first home SEC games on Jan. 10 against Auburn and Jan. 17 versus Ole Miss. The Tigers will be putting a 17-game home SEC winning streak on the line starting with the Auburn game as LSU has been undefeated in the Maravich Center in league play since March 4, 2004.

LSU will play all the SEC Western Division teams at home and Florida, South Carolina and Vanderbilt from the Eastern Division, while traveling to Georgia, Tennessee and Kentucky. All three of those games are set for television, with the Tennessee and Kentucky road games slated for the ESPN Super Tuesday television package.

The exempt event, the Hispanic College Fund Classic, will be held Dec. 27-29 at the Maravich Center and will involve two games each day with LSU facing Wright State, Mississippi Valley State and Samford. This will mark the first meeting with LSU and the team that John Brady coached before coming to LSU since the Brady-coached Samford team beat LSU in 1996.

The Tigers will also be back in New Orleans where they have had good success over the years, playing Tulane on Dec. 2 in a game scheduled for the New Orleans Arena.

LSU's first exhibition game is scheduled for Nov. 9 against EA Sports and the final exhibition game is Nov. 15 against Louisiana College before opening the season with games placed around the Ole Miss football game on Nov. 18. LSU will host Nicholls State in the men's season opener on Nov. 17 and then Louisiana-Monroe on Nov. 19. LSU will put on the line in the season opener a nine-game home winning streak dating back to last season and more importantly a 58-game home winning streak against Louisiana schools that dates back to December 1988.

Season ticket holders can renew their tickets now by logging onto their account at LSUsports.net. Those paying for their season tickets online using the eCheck option will receive a $7 discount on their order. Those not renewing online will receive their normal paper invoices in the near future. The deadline for season ticket renewal is Wednesday, Sept. 13.

LSU Men's Basketball

2006-07 Schedule

(Subject to change and pending approval of the LSU Athletic Council)

HOME GAMES IN ALL CAPS.

November

THURS. 9 EA SPORTS (Exh.) 7 p.m.

WED. 15 LA. COLLEGE (Exh.) 7 p.m.

FRI. 17 NICHOLLS STATE 7 p.m.

SUN. 19 LOUISIANA-MONROE (CST) 3 p.m.

SAT. 25 WICHITA STATE (CST) 3 p.m.

WED. 29 MCNEESE STATE (CST) 7 p.m.

December

Sat. 2 at Tulane (N.O. Arena) TBA

TUES. 5 TEXAS A&M TBA

Sun. 10 Texas (At Houston) (ESPN2) 7 p.m.

Sun. 17 at Oregon State TBA

Wed. 20 at Washington TBA

Sat. 23 LOUISIANA TECH (CST) 2 p.m.

Hispanic College Fund Classic -- Baton Rouge

WED. 27 Miss. Valley vs. Samford 5 p.m.

WRIGHT STATE vs. LSU 7:30 p.m.

THURS. 28 Samford vs. Wright St. 5 p.m.

MISS. VALLEY vs. LSU 7:30 p.m.

FRI. 29 Wright St. vs. Miss. Valley 5 p.m.

SAMFORD vs. LSU 7:30 p.m.

January

SAT. 6 CONNECTICUT (ESPN) 8 p.m.

Wed. 10 *At Alabama 7 p.m.

SAT. 13 *AUBURN (LFS) 2 p.m.

WED. 17 *OLE MISS (CST-TD) 7 p.m.

SAT. 20 *At Arkansas (CBS) 2:45 p.m.

WED. 24 *VANDERBILT 7 p.m.

SUN. 28 *At Georgia (LFS) 2 p.m.

WED. 31 *ALABAMA (LFS) 7 p.m.

February

Sat. 3 *At Mississippi State TBA

Tues. 6 *At Tennessee (ESPN) 8 p.m.

SAT. 10 *ARKANSAS (LFS) Noon

Wed. 14 *At Ole Miss (LFS) 7 p.m.

SAT. 17 *MISSISSIPPI STATE 7 p.m.

Tues. 20 *At Kentucky (ESPN) 8 p.m.

SAT. 24 *FLORIDA (CBS) 2:45 p.m.

Wed. 28 *At Auburn 7 p.m.

March

SAT. 3 *SOUTH CAROLINA TBA

8-11 SEC Tournament (LF, CBS) TBA

(Georgia Dome, Atlanta, Ga.)

ALL TIMES CST

HOME GAME OPPONENTS IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS

* = SEC Games; LFS = Lincoln Financial Life Sports (formerly JP Sports); CST = Cox Sports TV; TD = Tape Delay; FSN/SUN -- Fox Sports Regional Network/Sun Sports in Florida.