By Adam Zagoria on April 22, 2009, 8:34AM
John Calipari will bring his Kentucky team to Madison Square Garden for a showdown with Jim Calhoun and UConn in the SEC-Big East Invitational Dec. 9.
St. John’s — which may or may not feature Lance Stephenson at that point — will take on Georgia in the other game of the doubleheader.
“We are excited to be a part of this and to have the opportunity to play a program like Kentucky,” Calhoun said. “We always try to schedule against the best and think this is a continuation of that tradition for us. In addition, it is always exciting for our team and our fans to play in Madison Square Garden, an arena that has been the site of so many successes for us over the years.”
Syracuse will play Florida and DePaul will meet Mississippi State on a Dec. 10 in Tampa.
In their only meeting, UConn beat Kentucky 87-83 in the second round of the 2006 NCAA Tournament.
UConn will lose
Hasheem Thabeet, Jeff Adrien and A.J. Price from a team that went 31-5,
losing to Michigan State in the national semifinals. But the Huskies return guards
Jerome Dyson and
Kemba Walker, athletic forward
Stanley Robinson and also bring in talented big man
Alex Oriakhi, who could start in Thabeet’s stead.
Ater Majok, once recruited by Kentucky, won’t be eligible until Dec. 20 because he is a partial qualifier.
Calipari recently signed an eight-year, $32-million deal with Kentucky after leaving Memphis. He brought 6-10 big man
DeMarcus Cousins with him. Cousins, who had initially made an oral commitment to Memphis, will join
Daniel Orton and possibly
Patrick Patterson in what could be a devastating front line. Patterson will test the NBA waters, but hasn’t signed with an agent.
Jodie Meeks, who dropped 54 points in a game last season, will also test the NBA waters.
The Big East is 5-3 against the SEC in the last two invitationals.
MICHIGAN STATE TO FACE CAROLINA IN REMATCH
Michigan State will travel to North Carolina for the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. The matchups for the 11th annual men’s basketball event were announced Wednesday.
The two teams in the NCAA title game will meet again Dec. 1. North Carolina defeated Michigan State 89-72 in the NCAA championship earlier this month.
Michigan will host Boston College on Dec. 2 as part of the event.
Other matchups are Penn State at Virginia, Maryland at Indiana, Northwestern at North Carolina State, Virginia Tech at Iowa, Wake Forest at Purdue, Duke at Wisconsin, Florida State at Ohio State, Illinois at Clemson and Minnesota at Miami.
(The AP contributed)
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