Oct. 31, 2006

DAVIS, Calif. - The UC Davis men's basketball team will make its 2006-07 debut on Wednesday when the Aggies host Simpson University in an exhibition game at 7 p.m. at The Pavilion.

UC Davis, which returns four starters and eight letterwinners, is preparing for its season-openers at the prestigious College Basketball Experience (CBE) Classic, which will be held on Nov. 12 and 13 at Duke University in Durham, N.C.

The Aggies will face Georgia Southern in a first-round game at legendary Cameron Indoor Stadium while the host Blue Devils will host Columbia in the second game. Both games will be televised by ESPNU. The winners will square off the following day on ESPN2 with the opening-round losers preceding that game.

The CBE Classic is a 16-team tournament being played at four first-round sites. The winners of each four-team pod will square off in Kansas City the following week.

UC Davis finished 8-20 last season. The Aggies are in the final year of a four-year reclassification to NCAA DIvision I. The 2007-08 schedule also features a full complement of games against future Big West Conference competition as well as matchups against Stanford, Colorado and UTEP.

Simpson, located in Redding, finished last season with a 9-20 record.