BATON ROUGE — The LSU Tigers men’s basketball team will make their third trip to one of the premier pre-conference basketball tournaments when they spend Thanksgiving week participating in the 2007 EA SPORTS Maui Invitational, Nov. 19-21.
The tournament is hosted by Chaminade at Maui’s 2,400-seat Lahaina Civic Center, located less than 1,000 yards from the Pacific Ocean.
The pairings were announced Tuesday by KemperSports, the operator of the EA SPORTS Maui Invitational since 1990.
LSU will face a Maui Classic first-time team in Oklahoma State of the Big 12, coached by Sean Sutton in the second game of the four-game first-round session on Monday, Nov. 19. The Tigers and Cowboys will play at Noon Hawaii time with a tipoff time in the Baton Rouge area of 4 p.m. The LSU-Oklahoma State game as well as all first-round matchups will be televised by ESPN2.
The Cowboys were 22-13 a year ago and this will be the fourth meeting between the clubs with all four games having taken place on neutral courts. LSU holds a 2-1 lead in the series.
The other part of the LSU bracket will feature host Chaminade and another tournament first-timer Marquette. That game will start the day at 9:30 a.m. (1:30 p.m. CST). The night bracket will feature three-time Maui Champion Duke facing Princeton at 4 p.m. (8 p.m. CST) and Arizona State and Illinois will meet in the 6:30 p.m. first-day finale (10:30 p.m. CST).
LSU will play either Marquette or Chaminade in either the consolation or championship semifinals (Nov. 20) and then another opponent on the final day of the three-day event (Nov. 21). The remaining tournament games on Nov. 20 and 21 will be shown on ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU. This is the second straight year all 12 games will be televised by ESPN and in addition, ESPN360.com will provide live simulcasts of the games televised on ESPN and ESPN2.
All LSU games will be broadcast on the LSU Sports Radio Network and available in the Geaux Zone at LSUsports.net.
LSU first appeared in Maui in 1992 when the Geert Hammink led Tigers won an opening round game over Stanford, 72-63, before losing to No. 1-ranked Duke, 96-67, in the semifinals. In the third place game, a late basket propelled Memphis to a 70-66 win over the Tigers. That tournament was one of the last Invitational held on Christmas week before moving into its now traditional spots of Thanksgiving week.
In 1996, LSU lost to No. 2 Kansas, 82-53, before defeating Iowa, 70-60, and losing to South Carolina, 74-68.
Coach John Brady is 5-1 in two trips to the 50th state in his first 10 years as coach of the Tigers. In 1999, the Tigers swept Oakland (87-80), Wyoming (103-86) and Fresno State (95-86) to win the Hawaii Pacific Classic in Honolulu, while in 2001, after losing to Weber State in overtime (74-75), the Tigers beat host Hawaii-Hilo (64-62) and Mercer (84-54).
Remaining school booster tickets and single-game tickets will go on sale to the general public on Wednesday, Aug. 22, at 2 p.m. CDT via the tournament Web site at www.mauiinvitational.com, and through Oahu Travel, the official tournament travel agency at 800-826-3822. In addition, tickets for the tournament’s Tip-Off Banquet and space for the Fourth-Annual EA SPORTS Maui Golf Invitational are available. Visit the website’s “Tickets & Travel” section for details.
“Year after year, the EA SPORTS Maui Invitational ushers in the college basketball season with marquee fields,” said Tournament Chairman David Gavitt said of the 24th year of the tournament. “Basketball fans are in store for another strong tournament field featuring highly ranked teams when Maui becomes the mecca of college basketball this November.”
The Tigers complete schedule is expected to be announced later in the week and LSU’s men’s team will be the beneficiary of some bonus practice in preparation for a Labor Day Weekend exhibition slate of games in Toronto, Canada.
LSU will face the University of Guelph on Sept. 1, York University on Sept. 2 and the University of Toronto on Sept. 3.
The returning members of the men’s team will begin practicing for the trip on Aug. 24 with the first-year players joining the team officially when classes begin on Aug. 27.
2007 Maui Invitational Schedule
Nov. 19
Game 1: 1:30 p.m. – Marquette vs. Chaminade
Game 2: 4 p.m. – LSU vs. Oklahoma St.
Game 3: 8 p.m. – Princeton vs. Duke
Game 4: 10:30 p.m. – Arizona St. vs. Illinois
Nov. 20
Game 5: 12:30 p.m. Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2
Game 6: 3 p.m. – Loser Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4
Game 7: 6 p.m. – Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2
Game 8: 8:30 p.m. – Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4
Nov. 21
Game 9: 1 p.m. – Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 6
Game 10: 3:30 p.m. – Loser Game 7 vs. Loser Game 8
Game 11: 6 p.m. – Loser Game 5 vs. Loser Game 6
Game 12: 9 p.m. – Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8
All times Central and subject to change