HAMMOND – The Southeastern Louisiana University men's basketball team will travel to Rock Hill, S.C., to face Big South Conference member Winthrop University on Feb. 23 as the pairings for ESPN's 11th annual Ramada Worldwide BracketBusters were announced on Monday.
Tipoff for the game will be announced at a later date. The game will be played at Winthrop Coliseum in suburban Charlotte, N.C., and can be heard in the Hammond area on KSLU-FM (90.9) and on the internet at www.LionSports.net.
The meeting between Southeastern and Winthrop, under first-year coach Pat Kelsey, will be the first on the hardwood between the schools with the Eagles slated to return the trip to Hammond in either the 2013-14 or 2014-15 season.
Winthrop, which has made nine appearances in the NCAA Men's Basketball Championships since 1999, is currently 10-11 overall on the season including non-conference victories over Auburn and Ohio.
Against the current Big South membership, Southeastern has posted a 1-6 record that includes games against Campbell (1-4), Coastal Carolina (0-1) and Liberty (0-1).
From 1994-97, the Lions were league rivals with Campbell in the former Trans America Athletic Conference (now the Atlantic Sun) with Southeastern's lone victory in the series coming in the 1997 TAAC Tournament in Charleston, S.C.
Southeastern made its BracketBusters debut last season with a 64-48 victory over Ohio Valley Conference member UT Martin in the University Center.
All 10 Southland Conference schools will participate in the weekend event with league co-leader Stephen F. Austin and Northwestern State being selected in the 13 ESPN broadcasts. SFA will travel to face Long Beach State in a game televised by ESPNU on Feb. 22 at 8 p.m. CST while Northwestern State will travel to face Niagara in a 3 p.m. ESPN3 contest on Feb. 23.
The other Southland teams and matchups for the weekend event were McNeese State at Toledo, Oral Roberts hosting Weber State, Sam Houston State at Eastern Washington, SIU-Edwardsville at Central Arkansas, Cal State Fullerton at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Nicholls State at former Southland Conference member Texas-San Antonio, and Lamar hosting former league rival Texas State.
Last season was the first year for all Southland Conference teams to participate in BracketBusters. The league went 6-6 in the event last year, getting wins from Southeastern, McNeese State, Northwestern State, Stephen F. Austin, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Texas State. Southland newcomer Oral Roberts also won its BracketBusters game, beating Akron 67-61.
Southland Conference BracketBusters Games:
Stephen F. Austin at Long Beach State (ESPNU) - Feb. 22 at 8 p.m.
Northwestern State at Niagara (ESPN3) - Feb. 23 at 2 p.m.
Other Non-Conference Games as Result of Conference's BracketBusters Participation:
All Games to be played Saturday, Feb. 23:
Cal State Fullerton at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi - 1 p.m.
Weber State at Oral Roberts - 7:30 p.m.
SIU-Edwardsville at Central Arkansas - TBA
Texas State at Lamar - TBA
McNeese State at Toledo - TBA
Nicholls State at Texas-San Antonio - TBA
Sam Houston State at Eastern Washington - TBA
Southeastern Louisiana at Winthrop - TBA
