A meeting with reigning Pac-10 champion Stanford in the Pete Newell Challenge and a Thanksgiving holiday tournament appearance in the first-ever Hoop & Quill Classic highlight Mississippi State's 1999-2000 men's basketball schedule. The Bulldogs' 29-game, regular-season slate was announced recently by MSU Director of Athletics Larry Templeton.

The 1999 Pete Newell Challenge, which also will feature a California-Gonzaga matchup following the MSU-Stanford contest, is set for Tuesday, Dec. 21, at The Arena in Oakland. Both games of the one-day doubleheader will be nationally televised by FOX Sports Net.

Upon tipping off the 25th season of basketball competition at Humphrey Coliseum with home games against Alabama A&M (Nov. 20) and Arkansas-Pine Bluff (Nov. 23), the Bulldogs will head to St. Louis, Mo., to take part in the debut Hoop & Quill Classic at the brand new 11,000-seat SSM Health Care Arena.

MSU is slated to meet reigning NCAA Tournament participant Valparaiso in opening-round action of the three-day Thanksgiving holiday tournament (Nov. 26-28). The eight-team field in St. Louis also includes Southern Mississippi, Nebraska, Murray State, Rutgers, Evansville, and Northwestern.

Four consecutive home contests (Southeastern Louisiana, Western Kentucky, South Carolina State, and Centenary) during the first two weeks of December, a post-Christmas holiday tournament appearance at Montana State University, Dec. 29-30, in Bozeman, Mont., and a Jan. 19 road outing at Jacksonville State round out Mississippi State's 13-game, non-conference schedule.

With a possible 16 regular-season games pitted against teams that participated in postseason tournament play a season ago, the Bulldogs will open Southeastern Conference action with a Jan. 5 home contest versus Georgia. Four of MSU's first six league games will come on the road against SEC Western Division competition.

State's 14-game home schedule will be highlighted by national televised meetings versus SEC East foes Tennessee (CBS) and Kentucky (ESPN) on Feb. 6 and Feb. 29, respectively.

Guided by second-year head coach Rick Stansbury, the Bulldogs return eight lettermen, including leading returning scorer and rebounder Tang Hamilton, from last year's 20-13 club that advanced to the semifinals of the 1999 SEC Tournament and participated in the National Invitation Tournament.