Los Angeles, CA (July 5, 2001) -- For the first time since 1990-91 when the men's basketball team appeared in the Maui Classic, Loyola Marymount University has been invited to play in a preseason tournament. The Lions have been invited to play in the inaugural Guardian's Classic and will begin the 2001-02 season in the first round of the tournament against Samford on Nov. 13.

The Lions will be guaranteed two games in the Guardian's Classic, with the Lions playing either host Alabama or Mississippi Valley State. Following the opening Regional Round of the Classic, the Lions will return for its home opener against Idaho State on Nov. 17. The game against the Bengals will begin one of the more exciting home slates in recent history.

"We have challenged our team by adding the preseason Guardian's Classic Tournament," said Head Coach Steve Aggers, who led the Lions to the fifth best turnaround in school history in his first season with the Lions in 2000-01. "It is similar to the preseason NIT. It will get us some great competition and national television exposure on ESPN or Fox."

The home non-conference schedule for the Lions includes defending Big West Champion UC Irvine (Nov. 28), UC Santa Barbara (Dec. 5), Sacramento State (Dec. 8), UNLV (Dec. 15), Elite Eight participant USC (Dec. 22) and will conclude with Occidental (Jan. 2).

On the road it will be just as challenging. Following the home date against Idaho State, the Lions could play in the semifinals and championship rounds of the Guardian's Classic if they emerge as the Alabama Region winner. Those rounds will be held at Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Mo., on Nov. 20-21. Other teams in the Guardian's Classic include Air Force, Boston University, Iowa, Maryland-Eastern Shore, Memphis, Missouri, New Orleans, Old Dominion, Sacramento State, Tennessee-Martin, Wofford and Yale.

After the final rounds of the Classic, LMU will travel to Cal State Fullerton (Nov. 24), Texas A&M (Dec. 2), Long Beach State (Dec. 18), Montana (Dec. 30) and Portland State (Jan. 5) to round out the non-conference portion of the schedule.

Many of the Lions' non-conference foes will be familiar, as only Montana, Texas A&M, Occidental and the team's in the Guardian's Classic will be new on the schedule this season.

"A tougher non-league schedule will help us to find out who we are and give us an idea of what we can become and accomplish if we work hard together," said Aggers. "Our fans will be given a great opportunity to see some quality opponents in Gersten Pavilion."

Aggers hopes that another challenging non-conference schedule will prepare the Lions for the rigorous West Coast Conference. The Lions will start conference play on the road in the Bay Area, starting with San Francisco on Jan. 11 and then Saint Mary's on Jan. 12. The game against the Gaels will conclude a three-game road trip that started with Portland State, one of two three-game tours on the season. In 2000-01 the Lions had to deal with two four-game road trips.

Back in Gersten, the Lions will take on Portland on Jan. 18 and then three-time defending champion Gonzaga on Jan. 19. The other three-game road trip will then begin with San Diego on Jan. 24, Santa Clara on Jan. 26 and conclude with Pepperdine on Jan. 30. The first of two back-to-back match-ups against the rival Waves marks the halfway point of the Lions' conference schedule.

The second half of conference play will start with the Waves at Gersten on Feb. 2. The three-game homestand will continue with Saint Mary's on Feb. 8 and San Francisco on Feb. 9.

The final four games of the regular season will include a road trip to the Pacific Northwest against Gonzaga (Feb. 14) and Portland (Feb. 16), and then a homestand to finish things up against Santa Clara (Feb. 22) and San Diego (Feb. 23).

The West Coast Conference Tournament will once again be held in San Diego to determine who receives the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. It will be held on March 2-4.

-GO LIONS-