MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (September 4, 2008) – West Virginia University Director of Athletics Ed Pastilong and the BIG EAST have announced the 2008-09 men’s basketball schedule.

BIG EAST schools visiting Morgantown will be Pitt, Connecticut, Louisville, Villanova, Providence, St. John’s, Notre Dame, DePaul and USF. For the second year in a row, the BIG EAST will play an 18-game format that allows teams to play each opponent once and three teams twice. West Virginia will play home-and-home games with Pitt, Louisville and USF.

The Mountaineers will play 13 non-conference contests, including four games in the Las Vegas Invitational. As part of the Las Vegas Invitational, West Virginia will play Longwood at home and Delaware State in Charleston before traveling to Las Vegas to play two games against Iowa and either Kansas State or Kentucky.

West Virginia will open the regular season Nov. 15 at home against Elon and will also play Cleveland State, Miami University (Ohio) and Radford at the WVU Coliseum.

The Mountaineers will open BIG EAST play at Seton Hall on Saturday, Jan. 3. WVU will play its home BIG EAST opener against Connecticut on Tuesday, Jan. 6.

WVU will play road games at Mississippi, Duquesne and Ohio State and a neutral site game against Davidson in the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden. In addition to Delaware State, the Mountaineers will play their annual game against Marshall in Charleston.

In 2009-10, Mississippi and Ohio State will return the games to Morgantown.

WVU’s nationally-televised games this season will be vs. Davidson (ESPN), at Ohio State (CBS), at Georgetown (ESPN or ESPN2), at Syracuse (ESPN), at Pitt (ESPN), Villanova (ESPN), Notre Dame (ESPN2), at Cincinnati (ESPN or ESPN2) and Louisville (ESPN, also ESPN College GameDay). The championship game of the Las Vegas Invitational will be televised by ESPN2. All remaining league games will air on ESPNU, ESPN Regional/BIG EAST Network or ESPN 360.

“Top to bottom, I think the BIG EAST will be loaded this season,” says Head Coach Bob Huggins. “We believe our schedule has enough balance to prepare us for a tough BIG EAST schedule.”

The Mountaineers will play an exhibition game on Saturday, Nov. 8, against Mountain State at the WVU Coliseum. Game times and the rest of the television games will be announced in October. Basketball practice begins Friday, Oct. 17.

The complete WVU men’s schedule:

Day Date Opponent Site Location

Saturday Nov. 8 Mountain State (exhibition) WVU Coliseum Morgantown

Saturday Nov. 15 Elon WVU Coliseum Morgantown

Thursday Nov. 20 Longwood ^ WVU Coliseum Morgantown

Tuesday Nov. 25 vs. Delaware State ^ Charleston Civic Center Charleston

Friday Nov. 28 vs. Iowa ^ Orleans Arena Las Vegas, Nev.

Saturday Nov. 29 vs. Kansas State or Kentucky ^ Orleans Arena Las Vegas, Nev.

Wednesday Dec. 3 at Mississippi Smith Coliseum Oxford, Miss.

Saturday Dec. 6 Cleveland State WVU Coliseum Morgantown

Tuesday Dec. 9 vs. Davidson $ Madison Square Garden New York, N.Y.

Saturday Dec. 13 at Duquesne A.J. Palumbo Center Pittsburgh, Pa.

Saturday Dec. 20 Miami University (Ohio) WVU Coliseum Morgantown

Tuesday Dec. 23 Radford WVU Coliseum Morgantown

Saturday Dec. 27 at Ohio State Value City Arena Columbus, Ohio

Saturday Jan. 3 at Seton Hall Prudential Center Newark, N.J.

Tuesday Jan. 6 Connecticut WVU Coliseum Morgantown

Saturday Jan. 10 at Marquette Bradley Center Milwaukee, Wisc.

Wednesday Jan. 14 vs. Marshall + Charleston Civic Center Charleston

Saturday Jan. 17 USF WVU Coliseum Morgantown

Thursday Jan. 22 at Georgetown Verizon Center Washington, D.C.

Sunday Jan. 25 Pitt WVU Coliseum Morgantown

Wednesday Jan. 28 St. John’s WVU Coliseum Morgantown

Saturday Jan. 31 at Louisville Freedom Hall Louisville, Ky.

Wednesday Feb. 4 at Syracuse Carrier Dome Syracuse, N.Y.

Saturday Feb. 7 Providence WVU Coliseum Morgantown

Monday Feb. 9 at Pitt Petersen Events Center Pittsburgh, Pa.

Friday Feb. 13 Villanova WVU Coliseum Morgantown

Wednesday Feb. 18 Notre Dame WVU Coliseum Morgantown

Sunday Feb. 22 at Rutgers Rutgers Athletic Center Piscataway, N.J.

Thursday Feb. 26 at Cincinnati Fifth Third Arena Cincinnati, Ohio

Sunday Mar. 1 at USF Sun Dome Tampa, Fla.

Wednesday Mar. 4 DePaul WVU Coliseum Morgantown

Saturday Mar. 7 Louisville WVU Coliseum Morgantown

Tues.-Sat. Mar. 10-14 BIG EAST Championship Madison Square Garden New York, N.Y.

^ Las Vegas Invitational

$ Jimmy V Classic

+ Chesapeake Energy Capital Classic