July 17, 1999
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Seventeen teams that played in the 1999 NCAA Tournament arepotential opponents for the 1999-2000 University of Kentucky men’sbasketball team, according to the schedule released today by UKathletics director C.M. Newton.
Games at Rupp Arena against Louisville and Michigan State, aswell as a Senior Day visit by Florida, highlight a possible 14-game homeslate. The annual showdown with Louisville is Dec. 18 in Rupp Arena,which follows final exam week. Michigan State, which eliminated theWildcats in the Midwest Region final last March, returns Player of theYear candidate Mateen Cleaves for a Dec. 23 battle while the Gators willbe in contention for the league crown in the highly competitiveSoutheastern Conference this season. “The new schedule will be a great challenge for a young team,” Newtonsaid. “But this is the usual tough Kentucky schedule, both in the leagueand out.
“It’s a little unusual this year with one home NIT game and asecond one possible. But as you look through the schedule, we’re takingquality opponents to play in Louisville (Georgia Tech) and Cincinnati(Dayton) and we expect to see 18,000 or 19,000 fans in Indianapolis tofollow our team into a Final-Four atmosphere at the RCA Dome when weplay Indiana.”
After exhibition games in early November against the CaliforniaAll-Stars and Athletes in Action, the Wildcats tip off the season Nov.17 in the Preseason NIT, playing host to Pennsylvania, a squad that lostto Florida in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Should the Catswin, they’ll play host to the Arkansas State-Utah winner two days later.Second-round winners advance to New York to play the semifinals andchampionship/consolation games in Madison Square Garden.
“We open with a very competitive field in the NIT,” UK coachTubby Smith said, referring to a field that includes regular-season foeMaryland, New Mexico State, which UK defeated in last season’s NCAATournament, Arizona and ’99 Final-Four participant Ohio State. “Thetournament will provide us a measuring stick for a very young team veryearly in the season.”
UK’s December slate includes matchups at Maryland on Dec. 11 andMissouri at the Nokia Sugar Bowl Classic in New Orleans on Dec. 30. Thatcontest will be the first game of a doubleheader that also pairs LSUagainst Oklahoma State. The event will be played in the New OrleansArena, an 18,000-seat facility under construction adjacent to theLouisiana Super Dome. The arena should be completed in October.
“Our non-conference schedule is loaded this year, and I’m sureit will once again rank among the toughest in the nation,” Smith said.”I am also excited about the fact that we may have 14 home dates. Ithink that’s important for our team and our fans to play games inLexington, and I think we’ll see that trend continue in the future.”
The Wildcats will face Georgia Tech on Jan. 5 for the annualgame in Louisville and will play at Miami (Fla.) on Jan. 29 to completeUK’s non-conference schedule.
With the Final Four rotated back one week to April 1-3 inIndianapolis, UK’s SEC slate doesn’t start until Jan. 8, beginning witha home date against Vanderbilt. The Cats will visit defending SECchampion Auburn on Jan. 11 and Eastern Division winner Tennessee comesto Rupp Arena on Feb. 1. Arkansas makes its bi-annual appearance inLexington on Feb. 26 before Florida wraps up the regular season on March4 in what will be the last home games for seniors Jamaal Magloire andSteve Masiello.
The SEC Tournament will be played in Atlanta for the thirdstraight year, March 9-12.
Kentucky could appear on national television 18 times, including12 games on ESPN or espn2 and five games on CBS. Every game the Cats arescheduled to play will be televised either live or delayed.
Other highlights of the schedule include:
SEC game times for the “Super Tuesday” ESPN telecasts havebeen moved up one half-hour. ESPN will broadcast a Big Ten game at 7p.m. ET followed by an SEC game at 9 p.m. Previously, the game timeswere 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. UK is scheduled to play four SEC games onTuesdays at 9 p.m.
This is the fifth straight year UK will participate in anin-season tournament. It’s only appearance in the Preseason NIT endedwith a second-round loss to Pittsburgh in 1991
First-round action for the Preseason NIT includes Hofstra atNew Mexico State, Kansas State at Arizona, Notre Dame at Ohio State,Davidson at Siena, Arkansas State at Utah, San Francisco at Maryland andFordham at Tulane
The first official day of basketball practice for Division Ischools is Oct. 16, 1999.
1999-00 KENTUCKY MEN’S BASKETBALL SCHEDULE
Date Opponent (TV) Time Nov. 2 (Tues.) CALIFORNIA ALL-STARS (Exh.) (UKTV Delay) 7:30 p.m. Nov. 11 (Thurs.) ATHLETES IN ACTION (Exh.) (UKTV Live) 8 p.m.
Preseason National Invitation Tournament Nov. 17 (Wed.) PENNSYLVANIA (ESPN) 9 p.m. Nov. 19 (Fri.) ARKANSAS ST./UTAH (ESPN) 7 p.m. Nov. 24 (Wed.) TBA – Preseason NIT Semifinals (ESPN) – 1 6/8:30 p.m. Nov. 26 (Fri.) TBA – Preseason NIT Final/Consolation (ESPN) – 1 6/8:30 p.m.
Nov. 29 (Mon.) vs. Dayton (espn2) – N2 7 p.m.
Dec. 4 (Sat.) vs. Indiana (CBS) – N3 3:30 p.m. Dec. 7 (Tues.) UNC ASHEVILLE (UKTV Live) 8 p.m. Dec. 11 (Sat.) at Maryland (ESPN) 9 p.m. Dec. 18 (Sat.) LOUISVILLE (CBS) 4 p.m. Dec. 23 (Thurs.) MICHIGAN STATE (ESPN) 7 p.m. Dec. 27 (Mon.) ALASKA-ANCHORAGE (UKTV Live) 8 p.m. Dec. 30 (Thurs.) vs. Missouri (Fox Sports Net) – N4 7 p.m.
Jan. 5 (Wed.) vs. Georgia Tech (ESPN) – N5 7 p.m. Jan. 8 (Sat.) VANDERBILT (Fox Sports South) 6 p.m. Jan. 11 (Tues.) at Auburn (ESPN) 9 p.m. Jan. 15 (Sat.) at South Carolina (Fox Sports South) 6 p.m. Jan. 19 (Wed.) OLE MISS (UKTV Delay) 7:30 p.m. Jan. 22 (Sat.) at Vanderbilt (JP) TBA Jan. 26 (Wed.) at Georgia (JP) 8 p.m. Jan. 29 (Sat.) at Miami, Fla. (CBS) 1 p.m.
Feb. 1 (Tues.) TENNESSEE (ESPN) 9 p.m. Feb. 5 (Sat.) SOUTH CAROLINA (JP) TBA Feb. 8 (Tues.) at Florida (espn2) 9 p.m. Feb. 13 (Sun.) at LSU (JP) TBA Feb. 16 (Wed.) ALABAMA (JP) 8 p.m. Feb. 19 (Sat.) GEORGIA (JP) TBA Feb. 23 (Wed.) at Tennessee (JP) 8 p.m. Feb. 26 (Sat.) ARKANSAS (CBS) Noon Feb. 29 (Tues.) at Mississippi State (ESPN) 9 p.m.
March 4 (Sat.) FLORIDA (CBS) Noon
March 9-12 (Thurs.-Sun.) at SEC Tournament (JP & CBS) – N6
N1 – Madison Square Garden, New York, N.Y. N2 – The Crown, Cincinnati, Ohio N3 – RCA Dome, Indianapolis, Ind. N4 – Nokia Sugar Bowl Basketball Classic – New Orleans Arena, New Orleans, La. N5 – Freedom Hall, Louisville, Ky. N6 – Georgia Dome, Atlanta, Ga.
HOME GAMES IN ALL CAPS Dates/Times Subject to Change All Times Eastern
