NEW ORLEANS - University of New Orleans head men's basketball coach
Mark Slessinger announced his team's 2012-13 schedule before a gathering of the local media on Monday afternoon in the Spotlights Lounge at Lakefront Arena.
The UNO men's basketball program will play 12 of their 24 scheduled contests at Lakefront Arena. The schedule will could grow to 26 contests later this summer when additional games are announced.
“This is a very exciting time for the UNO basketball program,” said Slessinger. “We are excited about the direction that our University is taking under the leadership of our President Dr. Peter Fos, as well as, our new Director of Athletics
Derek Morel.”
“We feel that we have put together a challenging schedule that will bring some quality teams back to Lakefront Arena. The teams on our schedule will come from some of the best conferences in college basketball.”
Fans will get accustomed to the team early as the Privateers will play five of their first six games at home, beginning on Nov. 9 with a match-up against San Jose State. The contest is the backend of a doubleheader with the UNO women's basketball team.
Other contests during the home-heavy month of November include Southern Illinois (Nov. 12), Bethune Cookman (Nov. 15), Blue Mountain College (Nov. 20) and Southeast Missouri (Nov. 29).
With the exception of a home date against Nicholls State (Dec. 12) and a contest against NJIT (Jan. 21), the Privateers will spend much of December and January on the road. Though heavy on road dates in December, the the fall semester portion of the slate does not feature a single day of class missed, allowing the student-athletes to get off to a solid start in the classroom.
In addition to completing in-season home-and-homes with SIU (Dec. 17), SEMO (Dec. 19) and SJSU (Jan. 8), UNO will hit the road for games at Duquesne (Dec. 8), Mississippi State (Jan. 3), Butler (Jan. 5), Rice (Jan. 19) and Air Force (Jan. 23).
The season concludes with a stretch of four home dates followed by three straight on the road. The final home contests for the Privateers comes on Feb. 20 against Champion Baptist, which leads right into an end of season three-game swing of NJIT (Feb. 23), Houston Baptist (Feb. 26) and Texas-Pan American (Mar. 3).
“I am very proud to be the head coach here at the University of New Orleans and represent the rich tradition and history within our basketball past,” said Slessinger. “We are working every day to help reclaim our proud past today and tomorrow.”
Monday's schedule announcement came following a special pick-up game in the Auxiliary Gym at Lakefront Arena featuring members of the media and the Privateer coaching staff. A post-game lunch was provided by chef Scot Craig of Katie's Restaurant and Merlin Fleury Jr. of Fleury of Wings.
“This was a great event and opportunity for our wonderful media in the New Orleans metro area to get reacquainted with the UNO program, our student-athletes, and beautiful facilities,” said Slessinger. “It is our desire to do this every year and make it an annual event.”
Lakefront Arena General Manager Marco Perez, who also participated in the event, was delighted by the turnout and excited about having NCAA Division I basketball back at Lakefront Arena.
“On behalf of the Lakefront Arena, I am thrilled to welcome back the UNO Privateers for this exciting season,” said Perez. “We have a lot to celebrate: a new President Dr. Peter J. Fos, a new athletic director
Derek Morel and head coach
Mark Slessinger's leadership of our Division I team. “
“We look forward to celebrating another great season as we continue providing the city and region with Privateer Basketball, family shows and top-rated concerts.”
Members of the community interested in purchasing season tickets can fill out an interest form on UNOPrivateers.com to ensure that they will receive ticket brochures when they become available at a later date.
2012-13 University of New Orleans Men's Basketball Schedule (as of 6/26/2012)
DAY DATE OPPONENT TIME SITE
NOVEMBER
Fri. 9 SAN JOSE STATE TBA NEW ORLEANS
Mon. 12 SOUTHERN ILLINOIS 7 p.m. NEW ORLEANS
Thurs. 15 BETHUNE COOKMAN 7 p.m. NEW ORLEANS
Tues. 20 BLUE MOUNTAIN COLLEGE 7 p.m. NEW ORLEANS
Mon. 26 at Nicholls State 6:30 p.m. Thibodaux, La.
Thurs. 29 SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 7 p.m. NEW ORLEANS
DECEMBER
Sat. 8 at Duquesne TBA Pittsburgh, Pa.
Weds. 12 NICHOLLS STATE 7 p.m. NEW ORLEANS
Mon. 17 at Southern Illinois TBA Carbondale, Ill.
Weds. 19 at Southeast Missouri TBA Cape Giradeau, Mo.
JANUARY
Thurs. 3 at Mississippi State 7:05 p.m. Starkville, Miss.
Sat. 5 at Butler TBA Indianapolis, Ind.
Tues. 8 at San Jose State 9 p.m. San Jose, Calif.
Mon. 14 TBA TBA NEW ORLEANS
Sat. 19 at Rice TBA Houston, Texas
Mon. 21 NJIT 7 p.m. NEW ORLEANS
Weds. 23 at Air Force TBA Colorado Springs, Colo.
FEBRUARY
Weds. 6 TEXAS-PAN AMERICAN 7 p.m. NEW ORLEANS
Sat. 9 HOUSTON BAPTIST 12 p.m. NEW ORLEANS
Mon. 18 CENTRAL BAPTIST (Ark.) 7 p.m. NEW ORLEANS
Weds. 20 CHAMPION BAPTIST (Ark.) 7 p.m. NEW ORLEANS
Sat 23 at NJIT 2 p.m. (ET) Newark, N.J.
Mon. 26 at Houston Baptist 7 p.m. Houston, Texas
MARCH
Sun. 3 at Texas-Pan American TBA Edinburg, Texas
All dates/times Central and subject to change
Bold indicates home contest at Lakefront Arena
