Men’s Basketball Schedule Announced - 16 Home Games
A school-record 16 regular-season home games highlight Mississippi State University’s 2005-06 men’s basketball schedule, as announced this week by MSU Director of Athletics Larry Templeton.
In addition, MSU’s challenging 2005-06 men’s basketball slate will feature a possible dozen outings against opponents that participated in either the NCAA Tournament or NIT a season ago.
Breaking the previous school standard of 15 regular-season home games played during the 2000-01 regular season (excluding two postseason NIT home contests), coach Rick Stansbury’s new-look 2005-06 Bulldogs will tip off the upcoming hoops campaign by playing seven of their first eight games at 10,500-seat Humphrey Coliseum. After tipping off MSU’s 94th season of collegiate basketball competition by playing host to reigning NCAA Tournament entry Chattanooga and Arkansas State on Nov. 19 and 21, respectively, the Bulldogs travel to Charlotte, N.C., to meet the Charlotte 49ers of the Atlantic 10 Conference, a 2005 NCAA Tournament participant, on Nov. 23 at Charlotte’s Halton Arena.
Entering the upcoming season riding a current streak of four consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances with four straight 20-win seasons, the Bulldogs return to Starkville after the Thanksgiving holiday to take part in a five-game homestand that runs from Saturday, Nov. 26 to Saturday, Dec. 10. Following the two-week homestand, State returns to the capital city of Jackson for the third time in the last four years to meet Jacksonville State at the Mississippi Coliseum on Dec. 15.
MSU’s pre-Christmas slate wraps up with the team’s third visit to Puerto Rico in the last 14 years, as the Bulldogs participate in the San Juan Shootout, Dec. 19-21, in Carolina, Puerto Rico. State previously competed in the Puerto Rico Holiday Classic in 1996-97 and the San Juan Shootout in 1992-93. This year’s San Juan Shootout tournament field also includes Clemson, Chattanooga, Holy Cross, Akron, Liberty, Mount St. Mary’s and UPR-Mayaguez.
After concluding regular-season, non-conference action with a Dec. 30 home encounter with George Mason University, Mississippi State’s 16-game SEC schedule tips off with a Jan. 7 home contest against SEC West rival Arkansas. During inter-divisional conference play this season, the Bulldogs will entertain SEC East foes Tennessee (Jan. 25), Kentucky (Feb. 1) and Georgia (Feb. 25), while traveling to Florida (Jan. 11), Vanderbilt (Jan. 21) and South Carolina (Feb. 11).
This year’s SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament will be held March 9-12 at the Gaylord Entertainment Center in Nashville, Tenn.
