Friars 2013-14 season schedule announced
Thursday, September 05, 2013
A new era for Providence College basketball tips off on New Years' Eve this season.
The question remains, however, whether or not the new era - and the new year - is a better era for PC hoops. Only time will tell that part of the story.
But for now, as the Providence basketball schedule has been completed for the upcoming 2013-14 season with the inclusion of the conference portion of the slate, the new Big East will be much the same as the old Big East, prior to expansion in the '90's. 10 teams. True round-robin scheduling. Home and home with every school in the league. 18 conference games. Old rivals to face, and new rivalries to be built.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTThe New Year’s Eve game will be a matchup against Seton Hall, as had been previously announced, at the Dunkin Donuts Center in a 2:30 pm tip-off. It will be televised by the conference’s media partner Fox Sports 1, as part of the five-game launch to the Big East’s 2013-14 men’s basketball conference schedule. As part of the conference's partnership with Fox Sports, every Big East conference game will be televised on national and regional networks, with the majority to air on Fox Sports 1, which began broadcasting to approximately 90 million homes across the country on August 17th.
Fox Sports 1 will nationally televise more than 100 games involving league teams this coming season, beginning with non-conference play on Friday, November 8th and extending through the entire 2014 Big East Tournament at Madison Square Garden from March 12th-15th.
“From the Big East’s version of the Times Square New Year’s Eve Ball drop through the fireworks of the annual Big East tournament in the world’s most famous arena, the 2013-14 conference schedule will be a months-long celebration of the Big East’s return to its basketball roots,” said Commissioner Val Ackerman. “We have 10 outstanding teams with rich traditions of basketball excellence, and our comprehensive partnership with Fox Sports will ensure that our fans across the country can enjoy every moment of Big East action.”
As for the Providence part of the schedule, the Friars will travel to Villanova for their first league road game on January 5th, entertain Georgetown on January 8th and go to St. John's on the 16th before getting three straight home games - all against league newcomers. Creighton comes into the Dunk on January 18th, followed by Butler on the 21st and Xavier on the 25th.
As for road games, there will be three different back-to-back sets of games to play, with contests at Xavier and at Georgetown on February 8th and 10th that could certainly be considered a formidable challenge. The Friars will wrap up the regular season with a first-ever road game at Creighton in Omaha, NE on March 8th, just prior to the Big East tournament in New York. As of today, only three games on the entire schedule are not slated for national television coverage (between FS1, CBS Sports Network, ESPNU, Fox Sports Net and FS2). The entire schedule, of course, will be broadcast once again locally on 103.7 WEEI-FM and streamed on www.friars.com.
Some of the other conference schedule highlights include a Tuesday night Big East Showcase on Fox Sports 1, and fans will be able to watch Big East games on virtually every night of the week in January and February. Every game of the Big East Tournament will be televised on FS1, beginning with a Wednesday night (March 12th) first-round doubleheader, four games on Thursday's quarterfinal round, plus the Friday night semis and the championship game on Saturday night, March 15th.
PC's season opens with an exhibition game against Rhode Island College on November 2nd at the Dunk, and play for keeps begins on November 8th with a home game against Boston College. The schedule also includes highlight matchups in the Paradise Jam (St. Thomas, USVI), against pre-season national contender Kentucky at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY on December 1st, and traditional games with Brown at home on November 13th...and on the road at URI in Kingston on December 5th.
The Friars return four starters from last years' team that finished 19-15 overall and reached the quarterfinal round of the NIT. First team all-Big East guard Bryce Cotton, who led the conference in scoring, and 3rd team all-Big East big man Kadeem Batts, who also tied for the honor as the league's most improved player, both return to lead the effort. 6-6 freshman wing Brandon Austin, considered one of the top offensive players in the country coming from the prep ranks, begins his career at Providence as a player to watch - several pre-season predictions have Austin pegged as a potential Rookie of the Year in the Big East. Also starting their PC careers are transfers Carson Desrosiers (7-0, Wake Forest) and Tyler Harris (6-9, NC State) after sitting out last season.
2013-14 PROVIDENCE COLLEGE MEN’S BASKETBALL SCHEDULE
NOVEMBER
2 Sat. RHODE ISLAND COLLEGE (exhibition game at DDC) 7:00 p.m.
8 Fri. BOSTON COLLEGE Fox Sports 1 6:00 p.m.
13 Wed. BROWN Fox Sports 2 8:00 p.m.
16 Sat. MARIST TBA 4:00 p.m.
18 Mon. VERMONT Fox Sports 1 7:00 p.m.
22 Fri. vs. Vanderbilt ^ TBA (Paradise Jam) 6:30 p.m.
23 Sat. vs. TBA ^ TBA
24 Sun. vs. TBA ^ TBA
25 Mon. vs. TBA ^ TBA
29 Fri. FAIRFIELD Fox Sports 1 12:30 p.m.
DECEMBER
1 Sun. vs. Kentucky (Barclays Center, Brooklyn, N.Y.) TBA 8:00 p.m.
5 Thur. at Rhode Island CBS Sports Network 8:00 p.m.
17 Tue. YALE Fox Sports 1 7:00 p.m.
21 Sat. MAINE Fox Sports Net 2:00 p.m.
28 Sat. at UMass ESPNU 6:00 p.m.
31 Tue. SETON HALL * Fox Sports 1 2:30 p.m.
JANUARY
5 Sun. at Villanova * Fox Sports 1 7:00 p.m.
8 Wed. GEORGETOWN * Fox Sports 1 7:00 p.m.
16 Thur. at St. John's * (Alumni Hall) Fox Sports 1 7:00 p.m.
18 Sat. CREIGHTON * Fox Sports 1 2:00 p.m.
21 Tue. BUTLER * Fox Sports 1 9:00 p.m.
25 Sat. XAVIER * Fox Sports 1 12:00 p.m.
30 Thur. at Marquette * Fox Sports 1 7:00 p.m.
FEBRUARY
1 Sat. at DePaul * Fox Sports Net 1:00 p.m.
4 Tue. ST. JOHN'S * Fox Sports 1 7:00 p.m.
8 Sat. at Xavier * Fox Sports 1 5:00 p.m.
10 Mon. at Georgetown * Fox Sports 1 7:00 p.m.
15 Sat. DE PAUL * Fox Sports Net 2:00 p.m.
18 Tue. VILLANOVA * Fox Sports 1 7:00 p.m.
23 Sun. at Butler * Fox Sports 1 6:00 p.m.
28 Fri. at Seton Hall * CBS Sports Network 7:00 p.m.
MARCH
4 Tue. MARQUETTE * Fox Sports 1 9:00 p.m.
8 Sat. at Creighton * CBS Sports Network 7:30 p.m.
12 Wed. BIG EAST Championship at MSG
13 Thur. BIG EAST Championship at MSG
14 Fri. BIG EAST Championship at MSG
15 Sat. BIG EAST Championship at MSG
^ indicates Paradise Jam in St. Thomas, USVI
* indicates Big East game
Television coverage in italics
All games broadcast on 103.7 WEEI-FM and www.friars.com
