The University of Mississippi Athletics
Men's Hoops Announces 1999-2000 Schedule
8/12/1999 | Men's Basketball
Aug. 12, 1999
OXFORD, Miss. - The Ole Miss men's basketball squad will face another rugged schedule for the 1999-2000 season, as announced by Rebel head coach Rod Barnes on Thursday. In addition to the Southeastern Conference slate, the Rebels will face early non-conference tests at the SoCon Holiday Hoops Tournament and Oklahoma and at home versus Memphis and Virginia Commonwealth.
"I feel that we have put together a very competitive schedule for the young team that we will have this year," said head coach Rod Barnes, who will enter his second season in 1999-2000. "When I took the head coaching job, I said that we were going to play some of the top teams from across the nation, and I feel we did that last year and we have done the same this season.
"We have a good balance of home and road games, and we have some tough non-conference contests that will prepare us for the SEC battles. We will have a good team which will be young and inexperienced, but this schedule will definitely help us if we reach postseason play in March."
Ole Miss will tip off its 1999-2000 season on Nov. 19 with a home game versus Jacksonville State. Game time is 7:00 p.m. for the season opener. After a home game with McNeese State on Nov. 23, Ole Miss will travel to Greenville, S.C., to play in the SoCon Holiday Hoops Tournament Nov. 26-28.
The Rebels will open tournament play versus Furman on Nov. 26. The field includes Clemson of the Atlantic Coast Conference, Oregon State of the Pac-10 Conference, and Old Dominion of the Colonial Athletic Association. The remainder of schools in the tournament are South Carolina State, Central Florida and Wisconsin-Green Bay.
The December portion of the Ole Miss schedule has the Rebels playing five of the month's seven games in Tad Smith Coliseum. After road games at Alabama State (Dec. 1) and Oklahoma (Dec. 4), Ole Miss hosts Virginia Commonwealth (Dec. 7), Memphis (Dec. 11), Southeastern Louisiana (Dec. 15), Northeast Louisiana (Dec. 19) and Prairie View A&M (Dec. 29). Oklahoma, which Ole Miss defeated in last year's Puerto Rico Holiday Classic, advanced to the Sweet Sixteen in last season's NCAA Tournament. Ole Miss' final non-conference game will be on Jan. 2 against Birmingham-Southern in Oxford.
The Rebels begin their SEC schedule on Jan. 5 with a trip to Fayetteville, Ark., to face Arkansas. Ole Miss will play each SEC Western Division foe (Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, LSU, Mississippi State) twice on a home-and-home basis. As for games against the SEC Eastern Division, the Rebels will host Florida (Jan. 8), South Carolina (Feb. 9) and Vanderbilt (Feb. 26), and will travel to Tennessee (Jan. 15), Kentucky (Jan. 19) and Georgia (Feb. 12).
The SEC Tournament will be held in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Ga., Mar. 9-12.
The Rebels return only two starters from last year's team that posted a 20-13 record and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive year.
1999-2000 Ole Miss Men's Basketball Schedule
(times are Central and subject to change)
Nov. 5 - Spirit Express (Exhibition), 7Nov. 13 - Foreign Team (Exhibition), 7Nov. 19 - Jacksonville State, 7Nov. 23 - McNeese State, 7Nov. 26-28 - at SoCon Holiday Hoops Tournament (vs. Furman, first round), 5Dec. 1 - at Alabama State, 7Dec. 4 - at Oklahoma, 7Dec. 7 - Virginia Commonwealth, 7Dec. 11 - Memphis, 2Dec. 15 - Southeastern Louisiana, 7Dec. 19 - Northeast Louisiana, 3Dec. 29 - Prairie View A&M, 7Jan. 2 - Birmingham-Southern, 3Jan. 5 - at Arkansas, 7:05Jan. 8 - Florida, 2Jan. 12 - Mississippi State 7Jan. 15 - at Tennessee, 6:30Jan. 19 - at Kentucky, 6:30Jan. 22 - Auburn, 2Jan. 29 - at Alabama, TBAFeb. 2 - Arkansas, 7Feb. 9 - South Carolina, 7Feb. 12 - at Georgia, 3Feb. 16 - LSU, 7Feb. 19 - at Auburn, 1Feb. 23 - at Mississippi State, 7Feb. 26 - Vanderbilt, 2Mar. 1 - Alabama, 7Mar. 4 - at LSU, 7Mar. 9-12 - SEC Tournament (Atlanta, Ga.)
