LSU releases full 2019-2020 basketball schedule
BATON ROUGE – The Southeastern Conference and its television partners announced the 18-game league schedule for the 2019-20 season on Tuesday.
In total, with nine home conference games, the LSU Tigers will play 17 times at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
Season ticket information for the defending Southeastern Conference champions can be found online at www.LSUtix.net.
LSU will face 14 teams in the regular season that advanced to post-season play a year ago.
The Tigers will open conference play on the road in their only regular-season meeting with Tennessee in Knoxville in a game televised on ESPN2 or ESPNU at 11 a.m. CT on Saturday, Jan. 4.
LSU's first SEC games for 2020 at the Maravich Center will be when the Tigers host back-to-back contests against Arkansas on Wednesday, Jan. 8, at 8 p.m. (ESPN2/U) and Mississippi State (Saturday, Jan. 11, 7 p.m. ESPN/2/U).
There will be two special events at the Maravich Center in February. LSU will celebrate the 50th anniversary of Pete Maravich breaking the NCAA career scoring record on Saturday, Feb. 1, against the team Maravich broke the record against, Ole Miss. The game will be at 11 a.m. on ESPN/2/U.
On Jan. 31, 1970, Maravich broke the NCAA career scoring record of Oscar Robertson and on Feb. 2, 1970, became the first player in NCAA history to pass 3,000 career points.
Then in LSU's next-to-last home game on Feb. 29, at 11 a.m. against Texas A&M, LSU will retire the jersey of Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf in halftime ceremonies. Abdul-Rauf under the name Chris Jackson had a spectacular two-year career at LSU (1988-90), setting an NCAA freshman scoring record of 30.2 points a game during the 1988-89 season. The 50-year-old, who was named SEC Player of the Year in both LSU seasons, is continuing to play basketball successfully professionally in the BIG 3 league.
LSU's other league home games include games against Florida (Jan. 21), Alabama (Jan. 29), Missouri (Feb. 11), Kentucky (Feb. 18) and Georgia (March 7).
LSU will play Alabama, Arkansas and Texas A&M as usual both home and away, in addition to Ole Miss and Florida.
In addition to these five opponents and LSU's league opener at Tennessee, the Tigers are scheduled to travel to Vanderbilt (Feb. 5), Auburn (Feb. 8) and South Carolina (Feb. 22). LSU was a perfect 9-0 on the road in league play last year.
The Tigers, winners of 28 games a season ago and advancing to the NCAA Sweet 16, will open the third season of Coach Will Wade's tenure at LSU on Friday, Nov. 8, at 7 p.m. against Bowling Green in the Maravich Center. LSU will have eight home games in the month of November and December prior to conference play.
LSU and Louisiana Tech will play a special NCAA-approved exhibition game in Ruston at the Thomas Assembly Center on Saturday, Nov. 2, to benefit the recovery efforts in Ruston and on the Louisiana Tech campus from a tornado that struck the area in April of this year. Tickets for that exhibition are available on the Louisiana Tech website.
The Tigers will also have important road non-conference games at VCU (Nov. 13, 5 p.m., ESPN2) and in Los Angeles at the Staples Center (against USC) on Dec. 21. LSU will also be back in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge and will travel to Austin on Jan. 25 to take on Texas. The game time and broadcast network has not been set by ESPN, which has the television rights to the Challenge.
The Tigers will also travel to Jamaica for the Jersey Mike's Jamaica Classic in Montego Bay with LSU facing Utah State on Nov. 22 and Rhode Island on Nov. 24. Those games will be televised on CBS Sports Network.
The Southeastern Conference men's basketball tournament will return to Nashville's Bridgestone Arena, March 11-15, 2020.
LSU Men's Basketball 2019-20 Schedule
All Times Central; Times Subject To Change; Home Games in All CAPITAL LETTERS; * Denotes SEC Games
NOVEMBER
Friday, 8/BOWLING GREEN/7 p.m.
Wednesday, 13/at VCU/5 p.m. (ESPN2)
Saturday, 16/NICHOLLS/TBA
Tuesday, 19/MARYLAND BALTIMORE-COUNTY/7 p.m.
Jersey Mike's Jamaica Classic
Montego Bay, Jamaica – Montego Bay Convention Centre
Friday, 22/Utah State/TBA (CBSSN)
Sunday, 24/Rhode Island/TBA (CBSSN)
Friday, 29/MISSOURI STATE/ 7 p.m.
DECEMBER
Tuesday, 3/UNO/7 p.m.
Sunday, 8/NORTHWESTERN STATE/4 p.m.
Wednesday, 18/EAST TENNESSEE STATE/7 p.m.
Air Force Reserve Basketball Hall of Fame Classic
Los Angeles, California – Staples Center
Saturday, 21/Southern Cal/8 p.m.
Sunday, 29/LIBERTY/2 p.m.
JANUARY
*Saturday, 4/at Tennessee/11 a.m. (ESPN2/U)
*Wednesday, 8/ARKANSAS/8 p.m. (ESPN2/U)
*Saturday, 11/MISSISSIPPI STATE/7 p.m. (ESPN/2/U)
*Tuesday, 14/at Texas A&M/6 p.m. (SECN)
*Saturday, 18/at Ole Miss/7 p.m. (ESPN/2/U)
*Tuesday, 21/FLORIDA/6 p.m. (ESPN/2/U/SECN)
Saturday, 25/at Texas/TBA (ESPN Networks)
*Wednesday, 29/ALABAMA/6 p.m. (ESPN2/U)
FEBRUARY
*Saturday, 1/OLE MISS/11 a.m. (ESPN/2/U)
*Wednesday, 5/at Vanderbilt/8 p.m. (SECN)
*Saturday, 8/at Auburn/11 a.m. (ESPN/2/U)
*Tuesday, 11/MISSOURI/8 p.m. (SECN)
*Saturday, 15/at Alabama/3 p.m. (ESPN/2/U)
*Tuesday, 18/KENTUCKY/8 p.m. (ESPN/2/U)
*Saturday, 22/at South Carolina/7 p.m. (ESPN/2/U)
*Wednesday, 26/at Florida/8 p.m. (ESPN/2/U)
*Saturday, 29/TEXAS A&M/11 a.m. (ESPN/2/U)
MARCH
*Wednesday, 4/at Arkansas/6 p.m. (SECN)
*Saturday, 7/GEORGIA/1 p.m. (ESPN/2/U)
Weds.-Sat., 11-15/SEC Tourn., Nashville)/TBA (SECN/ESPN)