SEC Basketball Schedule Pits Razorbacks Against Familiar Foes

Is it possible for us to be more excited the 2013-2014 SEC basketball schedule gives the Razorbacks the opportunity to play and beat Kentucky TWICE in a regular season? We don’t think so.

FAYETTEVILLE – The SEC basketball schedule for the  2013-14 men’s basketball season is set, showing the Arkansas Razorback basketball team will play host to a nine-game league slate at Bud Walton Arena that features five games on the ESPN family of networks.

The Razorbacks will host Florida, Kentucky, Auburn, Missouri Alabama, LSU, South Carolina, Georgia and Ole Miss over its 18-game SEC schedule. Arkansas will play a home-and-home with Florida, Kentucky, Alabama, Missouri and Georgia – the top four teams from the 2012-13 regular season standings.

Playing an 18-game SEC schedule for the second straight year, a total of nine Razorback league games appear on ESPN platforms (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN3), six on the SEC Network, two on Fox Sports Net and one on Comcast Sports Southeast (CSS).

As it did last year in Texas A&M’s first year in the conference, Arkansas will open SEC action in College Station, Texas, on Wednesday, Jan. 8 (FSN, 8 p.m. CT), in its lone matchup of the year with the Aggies.

A year removed from an unbeaten 9-0 SEC home record, the Razorbacks return to Bud Walton for back-to-back home games with Florida and Kentucky. The contests are the front end of a home-and-home with both teams, as Arkansas defeated the No. 2-ranked Gators, 80-69, last year at Bud Walton Arena. The SEC home-opening showdown with Florida on Saturday, Jan. 11 (Noon), will air on ESPN2, while the Jan. 14th meeting with the Wildcats is part of ESPN’s Super Tuesday series and will tip at 8 p.m.

Back-to-back road games at Georgia (Jan. 18, 12:30 p.m.) and Tennessee (Jan. 22, 7:00 p.m.) will appear on the SEC Network before the Razorbacks close out their eight-game month of January at Bud Walton Arena against Auburn (Jan. 25, 5 p.m.) on Fox Sports Net and Missouri (Jan. 28, 6 p.m.) on ESPNU.

February yields five SEC road games, beginning with a Saturday, Feb. 1, at LSU (4 p.m.) on ESPNU. The first of two meetings with Alabama begins at Bud Walton Arena on Wednesday, Feb. 8 (SEC Network, 7:00 p.m.), before the Razorbacks hit the road for their second of three back-to-back road games. The swing begins in Nashville, Tenn., at Vanderbilt on Saturday, Feb. 8 (SEC Network, 3 p.m.), and finishes up with the team’s second meeting with Missouri in Columbia, Mo., on Thursday, Feb. 13 (ESPN2, 6:00 p.m.).

Arkansas and LSU will complete their home-and-home on Saturday, Feb. 4, at 4 p.m. on ESPNU at Bud Walton Arena. The Razorbacks will then welcome South Carolina to Fayetteville on Wednesday, Feb. 19 (CSS, 8 p.m.), for their lone regular season meeting.

The busy eight-game month of February comes to an end with road games at Mississippi State on Saturday, Feb. 22 (SEC Network, 3 p.m.), and at Kentucky on Thursday, Feb. 27. It marks the first time in school history that Arkansas has squared off against Kentucky twice in the regular season. The game is slated for 6 p.m. on ESPN2.

Two of the final three games of the regular season will keep the Razorbacks at home, beginning with Georgia on Saturday, Mar. 1 (SEC Network, 3 p.m.) and wrapping up with the lone meeting with Ole Miss on Wednesday, Mar. 5 (ESPN3, TBA). Arkansas will wrap up regular season play on the road for the third time in the last four years when it travels to Alabama on Saturday, Mar. 8 (ESPN3, TBA).

The SEC Tournament returns to the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, from March 12-16, with first and second round games on the SEC Network. Friday’s afternoon quarterfinal games will be televised on ESPNU while the even contests will be on the SEC Network. The semifinals and championship game will be broadcast nationally on ABC.

Each of the 126 SEC games will be available to be seen from anywhere in the nation. ESPN or ESPN2 will televise 31 contests, ESPNU 18 and CBS Sports six. Additionally, eight games will be offered on ESPN3. The SEC’s games on ESPN platforms are exclusively branded as the “SEC on ESPN.”

The SEC Network will televise 40 intra-conference games while Fox Sports Net will show 13 contests and CSS 10. All 63 of those games will be aired nationally on ESPN3.

All of the games included in the ESPN package (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3, SEC Network, Fox Sports Net and CSS) will be available through WatchESPN, accessible online at WatchESPN.com, on smartphones and tablets via the WatchESPN app, through ESPN on Xbox LIVE to Gold members and on Apple TV to fans who receive their video subscription from an affiliated provider. Each of the CBS Sports games will be streamed on CBSSports.com and CBS Sports Mobile.

Courtesy University of Arkansas Department of Athletics