RED FLASH MEN’S BASKETBALL COACH DON FRIDAY RELEASES 2008-09 SCHEDULE
Click Here For the Complete 2008-09 Red Flash Men's Basketball Schedule
LORETTO, Pa. (Oct. 6, 2008) – Twelve home games and road trips to Big 12 and SEC country highlight the 29-game 2008-09 Saint Francis men’s basketball schedule, which was released by first-year Red Flash head coach Don Friday on Monday afternoon.
Saint Francis tips off the 2008-09 campaign with a trip to Lubbock, Texas, to take on Pat Knight’s Texas Tech Red Raiders on Nov. 14. Texas Tech is a member of the powerful Big 12 Conference.
Including the game against the Red Raiders, SFU will play teams from the Big 12, the SEC, the Patriot League, the Atlantic 10, the Horizon League, the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference and the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. Additionally, the Red Flash will play host to Bryant, who is in its first year of transitioning from Division II to Division I. The Bulldogs will become a full-time member of the Northeast Conference in 2012-13.
“As is always the case at Saint Francis University, the Red Flash will play a tough schedule in 2008-09,” Friday said. “The non-conference schedule will prepare us for the tests we’ll face in the Northeast Conference, and it will also give our players the opportunity to face competition in other top leagues around the country.”
SFU will stay on the road following the season opener at Texas Tech. The Red Flash will travel to our nation’s capitol to face American University on Nov. 17. They will then return home for a two-game home stand that will see a pair of in-state rivals visit DeGol Arena.
The Atlantic 10’s Duquesne will serve as SFU’s home opener on Nov. 20, while Patriot League power Bucknell will visit during a busy athletics schedule on Nov. 22.
Friday, who was formerly an assistant coach for the Bison, will welcome his former team to Loretto on Alumni Night. Earlier that day, the Red Flash football team will host Robert Morris at 1 p.m., while the Saint Francis women’s basketball team will take on Lehigh at 5 p.m. inside DeGol Arena.
The Red Flash will also play non-conference road games at Lehigh (Nov. 24), Youngstown State (Nov. 29), Morgan State (Dec. 1), Iona (Dec. 14), St. Bonaventure (Dec. 17), and the SEC’s Vanderbilt on New Year’s Eve. SFU will also host Bryant in a late non-conference match at DeGol Arena on Jan. 31.
Saint Francis will open Northeast Conference play with a pair of home games against Long Island and St. Francis-NY on Dec. 4 and Dec. 6, respectively. It will mark the first time that SFU opens NEC play with a home game since the 2005-06 season.
The Red Flash will also host conference games against Wagner (Jan. 15), Central Connecticut State (Jan. 17), Monmouth (Jan. 29), Quinnipiac (Feb. 12), Sacred Heart (Feb. 14), Robert Morris (Feb. 26) and Fairleigh Dickinson (Feb. 28). The game against the Knights will signal the end of the 2008-09 regular season for SFU.
The rest of the NEC away schedule will be played at Robert Morris (Jan. 3), Sacred Heart (Jan. 8), Quinnipiac (Jan. 10), Fairleigh Dickinson (Jan. 22), St. Francis-NY (Jan. 24), Central Connecticut State (Feb. 5), Wagner (Feb. 7), Long Island (Feb. 19) and Mount St. Mary’s (Feb. 21).
Saint Francis will play NEC foes Monmouth and Mount St. Mary’s just one time in 2008-09. The Red Flash will play five of their first seven games, and 11 of the first 15, on the road. The six-game road swing from Dec. 14 until Jan. 10 will be SFU’s longest since the 2001-02 season.