Auburn to play Seton Hall

Courtesy of Auburn Sports Information

AUBURN - Auburn's men's basketball team will play at Seton Hall in the 2011 Big
East-SEC Challenge on Friday, Dec. 2, in the Prudential Center in
Newark, N.J., ESPN announced on Thursday.

The 12-game SEC-Big East
Challenge features 12 games with four per day from Dec. 1-3.

*This is a wonderful opportunity for additional national exposure for
our program,* said Auburn coach Tony Barbee. *Seton Hall will
be a much improved team, and it will be a challenge playing a Big East
opponent on its home court.

*It will be a chance for our large Auburn alumni base in the
tri-state area of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania to come watch
the Tigers play close to home.*

This marks the first game in history between Auburn and Seton Hall.

Seton Hall finished 13-18 overall and 7-11 in the Big East Conference
last season, and the Pirates defeated Alabama as well as four NCAA
Tournament teams in Marquette, St. John*s, St. Peter*s and at
Syracuse. Seton Hall went 8-7 at home last season, including a 4-5 mark
in Big East play.

Jordan Theodore, a 6-foot rising senior guard, is Seton Hall*s
leading returning scorer averaging 11.0 points per game and 34.6
shooting from 3-point range a year ago. The Pirates lose their top two
leading scorers in Jeremy Hazell and Jeff Robinson, who averaged 19.8
and 12.1 points, respectively.

Games set for Thursday, Dec. 1 in the SEC-Big East Challenge include
Georgetown at Alabama, Providence at South Carolina, St. John*s at
Kentucky and Ole Miss at DePaul.

The other three games in addition to Auburn at Seton Hall for Dec. 2
are Florida at Syracuse, Cincinnati at Georgia and Vanderbilt at
Louisville.

The matchups for Dec. 3 are Arkansas at UConn, West Virginia at
Mississippi State, LSU at Rutgers and Pittsburgh at Tennessee. For the
2012 SEC-Big East Challenge, this year*s SEC road teams will play at
home against a different opponent.

This marks the third time and second consecutive year that Auburn has
played in the SEC-Big East Challenge. The Tigers lost to Rutgers in
Pittsburgh, Pa., last season and lost to West Virginia in 2007 in the
BJCC Arena in Birmingham.

ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU will combine to televise all 12 games. Times and
networks for the games will be announced by August 15.

Although Auburn*s 2011-12 basketball schedule is a few months away
from being announced, the Tigers will also play in the 2011 Hawaiian
Airlines Diamond Head Classic along with Clemson, Kansas State, Xavier,
UTEP, Long Beach State, Southern Illinois and host Hawaii on Dec. 22, 23
and 25, ESPN Regional Television, Inc., announced on Feb. 24. The games
will be played at the Stan Sheriff Center on the campus of the
University of Hawaii.