STARKVILLE — A school-record seven of the Mississippi State men’s basketball team’s non-conference games will be televised this season, including three of the first five outings on the ESPN family of networks.
Coach Rick Stansbury’s team will play 18 of its 31 games at Humphrey Coliseum, and 23 of the regular-season games are slated to be televised.
“It’s as challenging of a non-conference schedule as we’ve ever had,” Stansbury said. “I like our team, and this schedule will challenge us early and help prepare us for SEC play.”
MSU will play exhibition games against Florida Tech on Oct. 29 and defending NAIA national champions Pikeville on Nov. 4. Both games will tip at 7 p.m.
From that point, the 100th season of MSU basketball will begin at 7 p.m. Nov. 7 against Eastern Kentucky, followed by Akron at 6 p.m. Nov. 9 on ESPNU. Both games are the opening regional rounds of the 2K Classic.
After a Nov. 12 game against South Alabama, MSU will travel to New York City for the final two outings of the 2K Classic at Madison Square Garden, starting at 6 p.m. Nov. 17 against Texas A&M (ESPN2) and against St. John’s or Arizona at 3:30 or 7 p.m. Nov. 18 (ESPNU).
MSU then will begin a six-game home stretch, starting with Louisiana-Monroe at 7 p.m. Nov. 21, followed by UT-Martin at 7 p.m. Nov. 25, and North Texas at 1:30 p.m. Nov. 27.
At 8 p.m. Dec. 3 (ESPNU), West Virginia will visit Humphrey Coliseum at 8 p.m. for the SEC/Big East Challenge. The home stretch will conclude with televised matchups against Troy at 1 p.m. Dec. 10 (Fox Sports Net) and Florida-Atlantic at 8 p.m. Dec. 17 (CSS).
MSU will get its first true road test Dec. 17 with a trip to Detroit-Mercy before heading to Jackson to face Northwestern State on Dec. 22 at Mississippi Coliseum.
After the holiday break, MSU will go to Dallas to face Baylor on Dec. 28 at the American Airlines Center on ESPN2 before wrapping up the non-conference slate at home at 1 p.m. Dec. 31 against Utah State.
On Jan. 7, MSU will open Southeastern Conference action at 8 p.m. Jan. 7 (CSS) at the University of Arkansas.
MSU will play host to the University of Alabama at 3 p.m. Jan. 14 (SEC Network) and travel to Oxford for face Ole Miss at 8 p.m. Jan. 18 (CSS).
Ole Miss will come to Starkville town as part of Rivalry Week at 6 p.m. Feb. 9 (ESPN or ESPN 2). MSU will travel to Alabama for a 5 p.m. game Feb. 25 (ESPN or ESPN2).
The SEC tournament will be March 8-11 at the Superdome in New Orleans.
n Ole Miss men’s basketball has new TV games: At Oxford, Four more of the University of Mississippi men’s basketball team’s non-conference games have been picked up for live television and tipoff times for three contests have been changed from their original times.
The Ole Miss-Miami game on Nov. 25 in Oxford will tip off at 3 p.m. and will be televised regionally by Fox Sports Net. The neutral-site tilt with Middle Tennessee on Dec. 21 in Southaven will tip off at 8 p.m. and be televised by CSS. The home game against SMU on Jan. 3 will air on Fox Sports Net and tip off at 8 p.m.
Ole Miss’ game at Penn State will air at 5 p.m. on the Big Ten Network.
At least 22 Ole Miss games are now slated for live TV coverage, including at least six national broadcasts. Every league game will be televised live.
The full schedule features nine teams that won 20 or more games a year ago and 10 squads that reached postseason play. Among them are Southeastern Conference foes Kentucky and Florida, which reached the NCAA Final Four and Elite Eight, respectively, as well as the marquee non-conference games against Miami and Penn State.
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