LSU announces 2023 non-conference portion of men’s basketball schedule

BATON ROUGE – The LSU basketball program officially announced on Wednesday the November-December non-conference schedule for the Tigers to open their 2023-24 campaign.

The schedule features the first appearance by a Power 5 conference team in the months of November-December at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center since December 2015 and eight home games along with the first public exhibition game since 2016.

The Tigers will host Kansas State in the front end of a home-and-home series on Dec. 9 at the Maravich Center. Kansas State was 26-10 a year ago and advanced to the NCAA Elite 8. The teams met last season in the Cayman Islands Classic championship game with Kansas State winning, 61-59, after an apparent buzzer-beating game-tying layup by LSU was disallowed because of a timing error.

The last Power 5 team to play in the Maravich Center in November or December was on Dec. 29, 2015 when LSU hosted Wake Forest from the ACC.

The 2023-24 season officially opens with two games on the first week with LSU hosting Mississippi Valley State on Monday, Nov. 6 and Nicholls State on Friday, Nov. 10.

With LSU playing as well on Nov. 24 at home against North Florida, the Tigers will have two games on Friday nights before LSU football games in November on Nov. 11 and 25.

The Tigers are also scheduled to play in the Charleston Classic, an ESPN event, for the first time since 2011. LSU will meet Dayton in an afternoon tilt on Nov. 16 and face either St. John’s or North Texas on Nov. 17. The tournament takes a day off on Nov. 18 before the final set of games on Nov. 19.

The new SEC/ACC Challenge begins this year and also moves into the week after Thanksgiving and LSU will travel to Syracuse to face the Orangemen on Nov. 28 in the JMA Wireless Dome.

LSU will also play in Houston in front of its large alumni base when it meets Texas in a game scheduled for the Toyota Center, home of the Houston Rockets of the NBA, on Saturday, Dec. 16.

The Tigers will have a public exhibition game at home for the first time since Nov. 7, 2016, when it hosts Louisiana Christian on Monday, Oct. 30. Teams are allowed two closed scrimmages against Division I opponents or can play an exhibition contest against a non-Division I opponent in front of fans.

Tip times and the broadcasting entities for the games will be announced at a later date. All LSU home games not chosen for over-the-air broadcast will be available on the SECN+ streaming platforms. SEC game dates are expected to be announced in the next few weeks.

Ticket information for the 2023-24 men’s basketball season is available through the LSU Athletics Ticket Office or online at LSUTix.net.

The complete LSU men’s basketball non-conference schedule (HOME GAMES IN ALL CAPS):

OCTOBER
Monday, 30 – LOUISIANA CHRISTIAN (Exhibition)

NOVEMBER
Monday, 6 – MISSISSIPPI VALLEY STATE
Friday, 10 – NICHOLLS STATE

At Charleston Classic – Charleston, S.C.
Thursday, 16 – vs. Dayton
Friday, 17 – vs. St. John’s/North Texas
Sunday, 19 – TBD

Friday, 24 – NORTH FLORIDA
Tuesday, 28 – At Syracuse (SEC/ACC Challenge)

DECEMBER
Friday, 1 – SOUTHEASTERN
Saturday, 9 – KANSAS STATE
Wednesday, 13 – ALABAMA STATE
Saturday, 16 – vs. Texas (in Houston)
Thursday, 21 – LAMAR
Friday, 29 – NORTHWESTERN STATE