BATON ROUGE — LSU men’s basketball coach John Brady announced his 1999-2000 basketball schedule which will not only include 18 home games in Baton Rouge, but a home game in Shreveport and an appearance in the new Sugar Bowl SEC-Big 12 Challenge in New Orleans.
The schedule is still subject to final approval of the LSU Athletic Council at its September meeting.
The Tigers schedule also includes the team’s first appearance in Hawaii since the 1996 Maui Classic when LSU appears in the second-year Hawaii-Pacific University-sponsored Honolulu Thanksgiving Shootout, Nov. 26-28. LSU will play the University of Oakland (Michigan) in the opening round. Other teams in the field are Fresno State, Southwest Missouri State, Toledo, Wyoming, Hawaii Pacific and Florida International.
The season opens on Saturday, Nov. 20 with a 7 p.m. game with Grambling State University in the Maravich Assembly Center, the first meeting between the two schools, and is followed on Monday, Nov. 22, with a resumption of the LSU-Southeastern Louisiana series.
LSU will play in Shreveport for a game for the first time since playing VMI, Centenary and Northwest Louisiana in the Louisiana Invitational in Dec. 1956, as the Tigers will host Centenary College in the 9,000-seat Hirsch Coliseum at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 21. LSU is the host team for the contest, even though Centenary is located in Shreveport.
This contest will mark the homecoming for LSU sophomore forward Stromile Swift, who prepped at Fair Park which is located practically across the street from the Coliseum where the game will be played.
LSU will mark its first appearance in New Orleans since playing North Carolina in the Louisiana Superdome in 1994 when it plays the nightcap of the Sugar Bowl Classic doubleheader in the new New Orleans arena, nearing completion outside the Louisiana Superdome. LSU will face Eddie Sutton’s Oklahoma State club at 9 p.m. on Dec. 30, following a 7 p.m. game between Kentucky and Missouri. Both games in the doubleheader will be televised by Fox Sports Net.
The Tigers will open SEC play with two home games against Alabama (Jan. 5) and Tennessee (Jan. 8). The month is highlighted by the completion of a home-and-home series with the University of Arizona on Jan. 29 at 2 p.m. in the Assembly Center. The Tigers took the nationally-ranked Wildcats deep into the game at Arizona a year ago, before falling, 78-71.
“There are some excellent opportunities in our schedule this year for our program to show its continued improvement and have the opportunity to make a name for itself by playing some nationally-ranked teams,” said LSU coach John Brady. “With Oklahoma State in New Orleans, Arizona at home, the tournament in Hawaii plus the SEC schedule, a total of 18 games will be played against teams that participated in post-season play.”
Besides the Fox Sports game, LSU will play at Vanderbilt on national cable network ESPN Jan. 15. While the final league television schedule has not been released, the Tigers know they will play Kentucky in a Noon game on Sunday, February 13, on the JP Sports syndicated network throughout the Southeast. Plans are also underway to televise a few of the December games on the new CS Southeast cable network which is available in some parts of the state.
“Counting the two exhibitions and the Shreveport game with Centenary, we have 19 home games and the only time we leave Louisiana before SEC play is for the tournament in Hawaii. We are pleased and excited about the challenges our schedule provides this year’s team,” said Brady.
The SEC Tournament will again be held in Atlanta, Ga., at the Georgia Dome, March 9-12.