Sept. 24, 2008

AMHERST, Mass. - The UMass at Memphis basketball game will be the first in a bonanza of 14 games on the ESPN Networks as part of the College Basketball Tip-Off Marathon on Nov. 18. The game at the FedEx Forum pits new UMass coach Derek Kellogg against his mentor and friend John Calipari, the former Minuteman bench boss.

The game will begin after ESPN's Monday Night Football (Buffalo Bills at Cleveland Browns) and starts 23 hours of coverage.

"For UMass and Memphis to play in the first game of this huge ESPN event is very meaningful," said Kellogg. "It will bring great exposure to our program and of course will be a very exciting game down at Memphis taking on the team and staff I worked with for many years."

Richmond and Syracuse will square off in the Carrier Dome at 6:00pm as part of the CBE Classic. The game will be followed by a special 8 p.m. edition of College GameDay from Chapel Hill, N.C. and the final game of the marathon, Kentucky at North Carolina at 9:00pm.

This will be Richmond's second trip to the Carrier Dome and fourth game against the Orange. The Spiders defeated nationally ranked Syracuse 73-69 on March 14, 1991 in one of the biggest upsets in NCAA Tournament history. It marked the first time a No. 15 seed defeated a No. 2 seed.

Syracuse has won the last two meetings between the schools, including a win in the quarterfinals of the 2002 NIT in front of a sellout crowd in the Robins Center.

The hoops bonanza scheduled for ESPN networks on Nov. 18. All times ET:

Midnight: UMass at Memphis (ESPN)
2:00am: Fresno St. at St. Mary's (ESPN)
4:00am: Idaho St. at Hawaii (ESPN)
6:00am: College Hoops Tip-Off Special (ESPN)
10:00am: Penn at Drexel (ESPN)
Noon: Liberty at UNC-Asheville (ESPN)
2:00pm: Iowa at Kansas (women) (ESPN)
4:00pm: Centenary at Baylor (ESPN)
6:00pm: Richmond at Syracuse (ESPN)
7:00pm: NIT Regional Final-Purdue (ESPNU)
7:30pm: NIT Regional Final-Boston College (ESPN2)
8:00pm: College GameDay-Chapel Hill (ESPN)
9:00pm: Kentucky at North Carolina (ESPN)
9:00pm: Florida Gulf Coast at Kansas (ESPNU)
9:30pm: NIT Regional Final-Oklahoma (ESPN2)
11:30pm: NIT Regional Final-Arizona (ESPN2)