Aug. 20, 2009

COLUMBIA, S.C. – The Southeastern Conference released its men’s basketball league schedule for the 2010 season on Thursday. Each of South Carolina’s conference contests will be televised, with seven games to be broadcast on the ESPN family of networks, five on the SEC Network, three on CSS and one on FSN. The Gamecocks will host eight conference matchups, including home games versus NCAA Tournament participants LSU, Mississippi State and Tennessee, and additional home dates against Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky and Vanderbilt.

“Southeastern Conference basketball will have unmatched national coverage this season, which will give us as a league the most visibility we’ve ever had,” South Carolina head coach Darrin Horn said. “We’re excited about the opportunity to have seven nationally-televised contests, but we’re also happy that Gamecock fans around the state and the country will have the chance to watch every one of our conference contests on television this season. The SEC will be as competitive as it has ever been, and we look forward to the challenge.”

South Carolina begins conference play on the road at Auburn (Jan. 9, 1:30 p.m. ET, SEC Network), a squad that finished the 2009 SEC campaign with a 10-6 record and advanced to the quarterfinals of the Postseason NIT. The Gamecocks return to Colonial Life Arena for back-to-back home contests, beginning with a matchup against LSU (Jan. 13, 8 p.m. ET, SEC Network), followed by a visit from Vanderbilt (Jan. 16, 6 p.m. ET, CSS). LSU earned a home victory against Carolina last season, while the Gamecocks and Commodores split the season series, with each team earning a win on their respective home court.

Carolina travels to Ole Miss (Jan. 20, 9 p.m. ET, CSS) and to Florida (Jan. 23, 6 p.m. ET) for its first ESPN contest of the SEC season. The Gamecocks defeated Ole Miss last season in Columbia, their third-consecutive win against the Rebels. South Carolina split the season series with the Gators, again with each team winning on its home court. The Gamecocks won a thriller in Columbia, as Zam Fredrick’s layup with tenths of a second remaining on the clock propelled Carolina to a 70-69 victory. In its lone ESPN Super Tuesday event of the 2009 campaign, Carolina dropped a close 97-93 decision in Gainesville.

Kentucky (Jan. 26, 9 p.m.) visits Colonial Life Arena for a featured contest on ESPN’s Super Tuesday. Last season, South Carolina swept Kentucky in the regular season for only the second time ever. In the first matchup between the SEC East foes in late January, Devan Downey’s turnaround jumper with three seconds remaining on the clock gave the Gamecocks an historic win at Rupp Arena. In the return contest in Columbia, South Carolina jumped to an early lead and defeated UK 77-59.

After a home contest against Georgia (Jan. 30, 7 p.m., FSN), South Carolina travels to face Tennessee (Feb. 6, 6 p.m. ET) in a featured contest on ESPN. The Gamecocks return home to host Florida (Feb. 10, 8 p.m. ET, SEC Network), before traveling to Georgia (Feb. 13, 4 p.m. ET, SEC Network) and Arkansas (Feb. 17, 9 p.m. ET, CSS) in mid-February.

South Carolina will play three of its final five regular-season games at home, beginning with a matchup against Tennessee (Feb. 20, 1:30 p.m. ET, SEC Network). The Gamecocks follow with four consecutive contests on the ESPN family of networks, beginning with a return trip to Kentucky (Feb. 25, 9 p.m. ET, ESPN/2) and a home contest against Mississippi State (Feb. 27, 6 p.m. ET, ESPN).

Carolina concludes the regular season with a home contest against Alabama (March 3, 7 p.m. ET, ESPNU) and at Vanderbilt (March 6, 2 p.m. ET, ESPN2).

Each of the 96 conference games during the 2010 season will be televised as part of the SEC’s historic 15-year agreements with CBS and ESPN that begins this year, with nearly half of those contests distributed nationally on the ESPN family of networks and CBS. Last season, ESPN and ESPN2 televised a combined 13 contests, this season, the network will offer 27 SEC conference matchups. All SEC contests on the ESPN family of networks will be exclusively branded as the “SEC on ESPN.”

Regionally-syndicated games will be televised on the SEC Network, which will broadcast 37 intra-conference contests, as part of ESPN Regional Television (ERT). Fox Sports Net will show 10 league events, while CSS, Charter Sports Southeast based out of Norcross, Ga., will televise nine. The majority of games not televised nationally will be available as part of the ESPN Full Court package, as well as ESPN360.com.

National coverage of the SEC Basketball Tournament has been expanded with the semifinals and championship game broadcast on ESPN on ABC. The SEC Network will televise the first two rounds of the tournament, which this year will be played March 11-14 in Nashville.

Non-conference game times and television details will be released at a later date.

2010 SEC Schedule:
Jan. 9, at Auburn, 1:30 p.m., SEC Network
Jan. 13, vs. LSU, 8 p.m., SEC Network
Jan. 16, vs. Vanderbilt, 6 p.m., CSS
Jan. 20, at Ole Miss, 9 p.m., CSS
Jan. 23, at Florida, 6 p.m., ESPN/ESPN360.com
Jan. 26, vs. Kentucky, 9 p.m., ESPN/ESPN360.com
Jan. 30, vs. Georgia, 7 p.m., FSN
Feb. 6, at Tennessee, 6 p.m., ESPN/ESPN360.com
Feb. 10, vs. Florida, 8 p.m., SEC Network
Feb. 13, at Georgia, 4 p.m., SEC Network
Feb. 17, at Arkansas, 9 p.m., CSS
Feb. 20, vs. Tennessee, 1:30 p.m., SEC Network
Feb. 25, at Kentucky, 9 p.m., ESPN or ESPN2/ESPN360.com
Feb. 27, vs. Mississippi State, 6 p.m., ESPN/ESPN360.com
March 3, vs. Alabama, 7 p.m., ESPNU
March 6, at Vanderbilt, 2 p.m., ESPN2/ESPN360.com

All times listed in Eastern.