July 1, 2005

For the 21st consecutive year portions of the 2005 Carrs/Safeway Great Alaska Shootout will be televised live nationally on the ESPN family of networks. Pairings and televised games for the 2005 Shootout were announced today by Dr. Steve Cobb, director of athletics at host University of Alaska Anchorage.

South Carolina will play Alaska Anchorage on ESPN2 on Thanksgiving Day in its first round match-up.

“We are pleased to be a participant in the Alaska Shootout. Playing Alaska Anchorage in the first round will be the most difficult challenge as we will certainly experience play on the road early on. Hopefully the fact that we will have played two games before we get to Alaska will help us. Once again the Alaska Shootout has an outstanding field representing all geographical regions of the country,” said USC Head Coach Dave Odom.

The 28th annual Shootout will be held Nov. 22-26 at Anchorage’s Sullivan Arena.

A minimum of four games from the 2005 Shootout men’s tournament will be televised on ESPN2 beginning with the Southern California-Oral Roberts match-up on Wednesday, Nov. 23, at 7:30 p.m. AST (11:30 p.m. EST). Another ESPN2 game will be a first-round game between host UAA and defending NIT champion South Carolina on Thursday, Nov. 24, at 6 p.m. AST (10 p.m. EST). ESPN2 will also televise a semifinal game (Fri., Nov. 25, 8 p.m. AST) and the championship contest (Sat., Nov, 26, 6 p.m. AST).

Other men’s first-round pairings will pit Eastern Washington vs Marquette at 9:45 p.m. AST on Nov. 23 and Monmouth vs Southern Illinois at 8 p.m. AST on Nov. 24.

Additional televised games on ESPN’s new college sports channel, ESPNU, may be added to the schedule at a later date.

In the women’s tournament first round on Tuesday, Nov. 22, host UAA will meet Central Connecticut State at 6 p.m. followed by the Furman vs Arizona game at 8 p.m. The four-team women’s Shootout will conclude on Nov. 23 with the consolation game at 2:30 p.m. followed by the championship contest at 5 p.m.

2005 Carrs/Safeway Great Alaska ShootoutNov. 22-26 - Sullivan Arena - Anchorage, AlaskaHosted by the University of Alaska Anchorage(All times are Alaska Standard - Alaska is 5 hours behind EST)
Men's TournamentWednesday, Nov. 23First Round7:30 p.m. - Southern Cal vs Oral Roberts (ESPN2)9:45 p.m. - Eastern Washington vs Marquette
Thursday, Nov. 24First Round6 p.m. - South Carolina vs Alaska Anchorage (ESPN2)8 p.m. - Monmouth vs Southern Illinois
Friday, Nov. 25Consolation SemifinalsNoon - USC/ORU loser vs EWU/MU loser2 p.m. - USC/UAA loser vs MU/SIU loserSeminfinals5:30 p.m. - USC/ORU winner vs EWU/MU winner8 p.m. - USC/UAA winner vs MU/SIU winner (ESPN2)
Saturday, Nov. 2610 a.m. - 7th/8th place gameNoon - 4th/6th place game3:30 p.m. - 3rd/5th place game6 p.m. - Championship (ESPN2)