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Princeton University Athletics
Fourteen Home Games Highlight Release of 2008-09 Men's Basketball Schedule
August 28, 2008 | Men's Basketball
PRINCETON -- Sydney Johnson '97, the Franklin C. Cappon-Edward G. Green '40 head coach of men's basketball at Princeton, has announced a 2008-09 slate that will feature 14 home games for the Orange and Black.
"I have a great amount of respect for every program that we play this season," said Johnson, in his second season as Princeton's head coach. "The Rutgers and South Carolina games jump out at you, but so do travel games at Army, Fordham and St. Bonaventure. When Ivy League play rolls around, our guys will be tested. With ESPN tuning in again this year and the Princeton community continuing to support our program, I know our guys are anxious to get out there and play."
The schedule includes two home games on ESPNU, against Rutgers Dec. 10 and Penn Feb. 17. Princeton's 14 home contests are the most since the 1987-88 season, which is also the last time the Tigers played more games in Jadwin Gym than on other courts in the regular season.
Princeton's weeknight home games will now be played at 7 p.m., and the Saturday Ivy League home games will move up to 6 p.m.
"Scheduling our evening tip-offs for 7 p.m. and 6 p.m. on our Ivy League Saturdays is a welcome addition to our schedule," Johnson said. "Our fan base extends across campus and throughout the Princeton community. With that in mind, 7 p.m. game nights in Jadwin Gym respond to the broadest demand of our most interested fans."
Princeton's season will open Nov. 14 against Central Michigan of the Mid-American Conference in the first-ever meeting between the two teams. That begins a stretch of four games against teams that haven't appeared on Princeton's schedule in recent years. A home game against Maine (first meeting, Nov. 19) is next, followed by a Nov. 23 visit to Army, which last appeared on the schedule in 1979, and a Thanksgiving Eve visit to Fordham, which Princeton has not met since 1989.
The first of two major-conference opponents will come to Jadwin on Dec. 2 with South Carolina of the Southeastern Conference, which Princeton visited two seasons ago. After a Dec. 6 trip to St. Bonaventure, local rival and Big East member Rutgers will stop in Dec. 10. Three straight road games will close out the 2008 portion of the schedule, at Manhattan on Dec. 14, followed by the team's first visit to Central Connecticut State on Dec. 20 and a long-held non-conference rivalry with Lafayette on Dec. 30.
The new year will open with a first-time visit from UNC Greensboro on Jan. 3, followed by a home game with Lehigh on Jan. 7 before the annual non-Division I game, this season against Division II Concordia (N.Y.), to close out the finals break on Jan. 25.
A trip to Dartmouth and Harvard on Jan. 30-31 will open the Ivy portion of the schedule, which includes a five-game homestand from Feb. 17 against Penn to Feb. 28 against Yale. Three road games will close out the regular season, which will wrap up against Penn on Mar. 10.