MSG Networks’ College Basketball Schedule Features Top-Ranked Teams

MSG Networks has released its 2013-14 college basketball schedule with a lineup of 136 games on MSG and MSG+. The schedule includes matchups featuring some of the country’s best programs, including the No. 1 ranked team in the Men’s and Women’s Associated Press Preseason Top 25 Polls, Kentucky and Baylor. Overall, eight Men’s Top 25 teams and 12 Women’s Top 25 teams will be featured this season.

The schedule includes games from power conferences Big 12 (35 games), SEC (27), ACC (23) and Big East (7) with four Top 10 teams on the Men’s side – No. 1 Kentucky, No. 5 Kansas and the two teams tied at No. 8, Syracuse and Oklahoma St. – and six Top 10 teams from the Women’s ranking, including the Top 5 schools – No. 1 Baylor, No. 2 Notre Dame, No. 3 North Carolina, No. 4 Stanford and No. 5 Duke – and No. 7 Kentucky.

MSG Networks will also carry conference tournament action in March, including Men’s first round games from the Big 12 and SEC, as well as two quarterfinal games from the Big 12, and first round and quarterfinal games from the Women’s ACC Tournament.

MSG Networks’ regular season tips off on Friday, November 8 with four Men’s games: Alabama at Oklahoma at 5:00 p.m., Cornell at No. 8 Syracuse at 7:00 p.m., Oakland at No. 12 North Carolina at 9:00 p.m. and Colorado at No. 25 Baylor, which will be joined in progress at 11:00 p.m.

The Women’s schedule begins Monday, November 18 at 8:00 p.m. when Rice visits No. 1 Baylor. On Friday, November 22 at 8:00 p.m., USC travels to Oklahoma St. and on Saturday, November 23, No. 4 Stanford hosts Texas at 1:30 p.m.

The annual Madison Square Garden Holiday Festival presented by Advance Auto Parts, which is the longest-running in-season college event and features local New York-area schools, will be telecast live on Saturday, December 7 starting at 11:00 a.m.with LaSalle vs. Stony Brook, followed by St. John’s vs. Fordham at 1:30 p.m.

In addition to the Holiday Festival, MSG Networks will showcase a number of games featuring schools from the Tri-State region, including LIU Brooklyn, Sacred Heart, St. Francis Brooklyn, Fairleigh Dickinson, Central Connecticut State, Mount Saint Mary and Wagner.