PISCATAWAY, NJ – Rutgers University has announced its 2003-2004 men's basketball schedule. A challenging 16-game slate of BIG EAST Conference games highlights the schedule and will be augmented by 11 non-conference games (one more non-conference game will be announced at a later date).

The Scarlet Knights open their 2003-04 season on Nov. 22, hosting Lafayette. The home non-conference portion of the schedule also features games vs. intrastate rivals Princeton and Monmouth as well as contests vs. Temple, Buffalo, and LIU. Away from the RAC, Rutgers will face three Big 10 members in Wisconsin, Penn State and Northwestern, the latter a first round match-up in the Sierra Providence SunClassic. The Scarlet Knights will face either host school UTEP or Mississippi Valley State in the second round.

The Scarlet Knights begin BIG EAST play on Jan. 3 at Georgetown with the first BIG EAST home game slated for Jan. 6 vs. Connecticut. The BIG EAST no longer has a two-team division setup; instead the league standings will be comprised of one 14-team setup. Each team will play a 16-game conference schedule, in which every team will play each other at least once. In addition, each school will play three others on a home-and-home basis.

In BIG EAST play, Rutgers will play Seton Hall, Miami and Virginia Tech twice (home and away) while playing the other 10 teams one time each. The breakdown of BIG EAST games is as follows: The Scarlet Knights will host Connecticut, Miami, Notre Dame, Providence, St. John’s, Seton Hall, Virginia Tech and West Virginia. Rutgers will travel to Boston College, Georgetown, Miami, Pittsburgh, Seton Hall, Syracuse, Villanova and Virginia Tech.

Note: Game times and television schedule will be released at a later time.

Note: Game times and television schedule will be released at a later time.