Aug. 11, 2011

• 2011-12 non-conference schedule
• Newsday.com European tour blog
• European tour Twitter 

The Stony Brook men's basketball team will take part in the 2011 Madison Square Garden Holiday Festival, squaring off against Rutgers on Saturday, Dec. 17 at 12 p.m., head coach Steve Pikiell announced as part of his non-conference schedule released Thursday. The Holiday Festival game headlines Stony Brook's 12-game non-conference schedule, which includes the Big Ten's Indiana and Northwestern and the ACC's Boston College. In addition, the Seawolves will host five games at home in historic Pritchard Gymnasium.

"This is arguably the toughest schedule we have had in my time here, but I am excited for our team because we have a veteran group of student-athletes that will be up to the challenge of playing four BCS teams this year," Pikiell said. "It will be the perfect test for us as we gear up towards our competitive America East schedule and compete for the conference championship. I am also thrilled for our entire university community that we get to represent Stony Brook University at Madison Square Garden, known as the mecca of college basketball."

Stony Brook's 2011-12 campaign will commence Friday, Nov. 11, at the historic Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Ind., where the Seawolves will take on the Indiana Hoosiers. Stony Brook will attempt to become just the sixth non-BCS team in the last 10 seasons to win there.

Two days later, Sunday, Nov. 13, the Seawolves will welcome Mount Ida to Pritchard Gymnasium for the home opener. Stony Brook will then travel to Sacred Heart (Nov. 15) for a Tuesday night game. The Seawolves will play at Wagner Nov. 18 to wrap up a stretch of four games in eight days.

Just prior to the Thanksgiving break, Stony Brook will take on Columbia (Nov. 22) at home. Right after the Thanksgiving holiday, the Seawolves will head to Evanston, Ill., to face the Northwestern Wildcats on Friday, Nov. 25, marking the first time SBU will take on two members of the Big Ten in a single season. In fact, Indiana and Northwestern are just the third and fourth Big Ten teams the program has ever faced. Stony Brook defeated Penn State in 2006 and lost to Illinois in the first round of the 2010 NIT.

On Dec. 3, the Seawolves will make their third trip of the season to the Midwest when they visit Charleston, Ill., to play the Eastern Illinois Panthers out of the Ohio Valley Conference. Then on Dec. 11, the Seawolves will travel to Boston for a bout with Boston College as the program looks to top an ACC school for the first time ever. This is SBU's second-ever game against an ACC team (they also played Boston College back in 2006).

On Dec. 17, the Seawolves will enter historic Madison Square Garden for their bout with Rutgers, marking the 12th consecutive season where Stony Brook will square off with a member of the BIG EAST. The game will be followed by St. John's vs. Fordham. This will be Stony Brook's first appearance at Madison Square Garden as a Division I program, but not their first time ever. The program competed at MSG as a Div. III school three times from 1993-95, including a win over Western Connecticut on Jan. 22, 1995.

Stony Brook will wrap up the non-conference slate with a pair of post-Christmas home games, facing Cornell on Dec. 28 and Rider on Dec. 30.

The full 2011-12 schedule, including America East conference games, will be released at a later date. The Stony Brook Athletics ticket office is currently accepting deposits for season tickets, which will include 13 home games and the Holiday Festival game at Madison Square Garden. Season tickets will officially go on sale Sept. 1, and individual game tickets will go on sale Oct. 1.

Pikiell and the Seawolves leave today for an 11-day exhibition tour of Europe through Dublin, London and Paris and will play five games against club teams. To follow the trip, visit the Newsday.com blog at Newsday.com/sbu or follow on Twitter @SBU_MBB_Europe.