Sept. 5, 2001

• 2001-02 Men's Basketball Schedule

EASTON, Pa. (www.lafayette.edu) - Non-conference meetings with opponents from the Big 10 and Big East Conferences highlight the 2001-02 Lafayette men's basketball schedule.

Fran O'Hanlon's squad will open the season with three straight road games - the first time since 1956-57 that it has happened. A three-hour trip to face the University at Albany on Nov. 17 gets the season underway.

The schedule becomes markedly tougher in the Leopards' next two contests. Lafayette will make the trip west on Interstate 80 to face Penn State on Nov. 21. The Nittany Lions put together a run to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 in 2000-01, including a second-round win over North Carolina before losing to Temple.

On Nov. 24, the Leopards will head south to face a strong Miami, Fla. program. The Hurricanes have rattled off seven straight winning seasons and four consecutive post-season appearances. Miami returns four starters from its 2001 NIT team.

The 29th season of basketball at the arena in Kirby Sports Center gets underway on Nov. 27 versus St. Peter's. Another MAAC opponent follows two days later when Marist comes to town off its 17-13 mark.

The month of December opens with a road game at Columbia on Dec. 1 in a 7:30 p.m. tip off. That game is the first of four meetings with Ivy League programs. The Leopards first trip to Philadelphia will come on December 5 when Lafayette faces Drexel and head coach Bruiser Flint in his first year with the Dragons.

Three days later Cornell will come to College Hill for a Saturday afternoon doubleheader with the Lafayette women's team. The Leopards have an 11-day break from games surrounding finals week and return to action with a home game versus Scranton on Dec. 19.

The latest matchup in the Leopards' series with Princeton will take place on Dec. 21. Lafayette has won three straight games versus Princeton, a team which qualified for the 2001 NCAA Tournament. A home game versus Howard closes out the year on Dec. 30.

A third MAAC opponent opens 2002. The Leopards host Rider at home on Jan. 2, the third doubleheader of the season with the women's team. The Patriot League portion of the schedule gets underway on Jan. 9 at Bucknell. After hosting Holy Cross on Jan. 12, the Leopards will meet American University for the 21st time, but the first as Patriot League competitors. Three more road games await the Leopards in that stretch. Lafayette's final non-conference game, a Jan. 21 matchup at the Palestra against Penn, is surrounded by contests versus both of the military academies - Army on Jan. 19 and Navy on Jan. 23.

The Leopards host Colgate in a Jan. 26 doubleheader before closing out the first round of Patriot League play at Lehigh on Jan. 30. In the second go-around of conference play, Lafayette has five of its last seven games at home, excepting Holy Cross on Feb. 6 and the final regular-season game at Colgate on Feb. 23.

The eight Patriot League institutions will convene on March 2-3 in Upper Marlboro, Md. at Showplace Arena for the Patriot League Tournament. The championship game will be March 8 at the home of the highest remaining seed.

For the 2001-02 season, weeknight doubleheaders will see the men's contests tip off at 7:45 p.m. following the women's games at 5:30 p.m.