CHARLESTON, S.C. - The College of Charleston men's basketball team will travel to Kent State for its 2012 ESPN Sears BracketBusters game on Saturday, Feb. 18 at the M.A.C. Center in Kent, Ohio.
The Cougars (12-9, 4-6 Southern Conference) and Golden Flashes (14-6, 4-3 Mid-American Conference) will meet for the second time in both program's history. They last faced each other in the first round of the 2003 Postseason NIT with CofC moving to the second round with a 71-66 victory on March 19, 2003 in Kent, Ohio, under former head coach Tom Herrion. The game time will be announced at a later date.
CofC is 4-1 all-time in BracketBuster games and has won its last four-straight appearances in the event. Last season, the Cougars defeated Vermont, 85-70, before a nationally-televised audience on ESPNU on Feb. 19, 2011, in Charleston, S.C. CofC's two other BracketBusters wins came against VCU in 2005 and Georgia State in 2006.
"BracketBusters is always fun," said CofC Interim Head Coach Mark Byington, who was a first-year assistant coach on Tom Herrion's staff in 2003. "It is fun for everyone involved, because of the suspense of not knowing who you are going to play - usually an opponent you've never played or have had tradition with. When we last played Kent State, they were just coming off an NCAA Elite Eight appearance and had Antonio Gates, an all-pro tight end now with the San Diego Chargers.
"They have great tradition and great players. They are a in a great conference, recruit high-level players and always have great wins. I'm pretty sure they had an upset win at West Virginia earlier this year and played a tough non-conference schedule. We are excited to go up there and will be ready to play when the time comes. Hopefully, our fans will be excited as Kent State will play a return game next year in Charleston."
CofC has now played in the state of Ohio three times in the last two years having traveled to Toledo for the subregional round of the 2K Sports Classic benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer on Nov. 19-21, 2010, and to Cleveland State for the second round of the Postseason NIT on March 19, 2011.
The 10th annual Sears BracketBusters is a three-day men's college basketball event pitting potential NCAA Championship hopefuls against each other from Feb. 17-19. The tournament is comprised of 142 teams from 16 different conferences given the opportunity to play other top non-conference opponents three weeks before Selection Sunday.
As part of the agreement, all 13 of the Sears BracketBusters home teams in televised games, as well as the remaining 58 home squads, will play a return game at the home facility of their opponent in November or December of the 2013-14 season.
COUGARS ALL-TIME IN ESPN SEARS BRACKETBUSTERS (4-1)
2004 - College of Charleston at Western Michigan, L, 78-83, on 2/21/04
2005 - VCU at College of Charleston, W, 85-75, on 2/19/05
2006 - Georgia State at College of Charleston, W, 83-75, on 2/18/06
2010 - College of Charleston at George Mason, W, 85-83, on 2/20/10 (ESPN2)
2011 - Vermont at College of Charleston, W, 85-70, on 2/19/11 (ESPNU)
2012 - College of Charleston at Kent State on 2/18/12
