By: by Mark Toma
KENNESAW, Ga. – The men’s basketball program has announced the 2009-10 schedule with a pair of high-profile opponents highlighting the Owls fifth Division I season.
For the first time in the 24-year history of the men’s basketball program, Kennesaw State will play cross-town rival Georgia Tech in a regular season game. The Owls and the Yellow Jackets will meet on Dec. 22 at Alexander Memorial Coliseum. The historic game also marks the first time Kennesaw State will play an opponent from the Atlantic Coast Conference.
The game is the first of three meetings between the Owls and the Yellow Jackets over the next four years. Georgia Tech will come to Kennesaw State next season for a game at the KSU Convocation Center and in the 2012-13 season the Black and Gold will travel to Alexander Memorial Coliseum.
Prior to the meeting with Georgia Tech, the Black and Gold will travel to South Bend, Ind. to face Big East powerhouse Notre Dame and All-American Luke Harangody in the Chicago Invitational Challenge. Kennesaw State will begin the four-game event on Nov. 22 when they play the Billikens of St. Louis before meeting the Irish on Nov. 24.
The remaining two games of the event will be played from a pool of teams including Mississippi Valley State, Tennessee State and Liberty and will be played at the Sears Center in Hoffman Estates, Ill. on Nov. 27 and 28.
The Owls non-conference games also include road games with Maine (Dec. 13) and Western Michigan (Dec. 19) and home games against Fordham (Dec. 29), Southern Illinois-Edwardsville (Jan. 12), North Georgia (Nov. 14) and the season opener on Nov. 13 against North Greenville.
The Atlantic Sun Conference season opens up in early December as the Owls play a pair of home games against Belmont (Dec. 3) and Lipscomb (Dec. 5), marking the first time the Owls have opened the regular season at home against the Nashville-based teams since the 2005-06 season when KSU beat both the Bisons and Bruins.
The conference season moves into high gear on Jan. 2 when the Owls travel to the Sunshine State to play North Florida and Jacksonville. The Black and Gold will head home for three straight games as they battle ETSU, Campbell and SIUE in their second-longest homestand of the year.
Kennesaw State will play four straight at the KSU Convocation Center beginning with a meeting with the Eagles of Florida Gulf Coast on Jan. 30. Stetson and Mercer follow with visits to campus on Feb. 1 and Feb. 4 with the homestand concluding on Feb. 6 against USC Upstate, who the Owls defeated on buzzer-beating shot by Jon-Michael Nickerson in last year’s game at the KSUCC.
The home season concludes with a pair of game beginning with the Owls playing Jacksonville on Feb. 18 before concluding the home slate with a Senior Day game against North Florida.
The 2009-10 season marks the first year that Kennesaw State will be eligible for the postseason. The Owls finished their four-year transition period last season and will now be eligible for the Atlantic Sun Conference tournament and all other post-season tournaments.
