It’s finally here.

Monday, the Auburn men’s basketball team released its schedule for the upcoming season. And while all the games will be important, one is for sure circled, especially for Auburn senior guard Quantez Robertson.

On Dec. 3, the Tigers will travel to Cincinnati to face Xavier, an NCAA Tournament regional finalist from last year. Not only is it a big road test, but it’s also a homecoming for Robertson, who grew up in Cincinnati.

That, however, is only one of two tough non-conference road games for Auburn, which opens up with four regular-season home games, two of those games (Mercer and Bethune-Cookman) are part of the Chicago Invitational. In late November, the Tigers travel to Chicago (Nov. 28-29) to play Dayton and Northern Iowa before heading to Xavier.

Then, the Tigers return home for two more games at Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum before heading to Charlottesville, Va., to play Virginia (Dec. 20).

Auburn opens SEC play Jan. 10 at South Carolina, which will kick off a tough conference schedule, including home games against Florida (Jan. 14) and Alabama (Jan. 17). The Tigers will travel to Kentucky (Jan. 21) and stay on the road to play at Arkansas three days later (Jan. 24).

Auburn will host defending SEC champion Tennessee on Feb. 7 and then travel to Alabama on March 3, a game that will be shown on ESPN.

In all, the Tigers will play 14 games against teams who made the NCAA Tournament last season.

“We have some very good non-conference games,” Auburn head coach Jeff Lebo said in a university press release. “Xavier was probably one of the best teams we played all of last year. We’re going to Chicago to play against Dayton, who is very, very good and Northern Iowa who is also very good. We are also going to play at one of the ACC schools in Virginia.

“George Washington is coming to Auburn this year and that is a good game, and we play our season opener at home against an always tough Missouri State team. Tulane is also making a return trip to Auburn, and they beat us last year. We have a pretty good, challenging schedule.”

Auburn opens the season with an exhibition game at Beard-Eaves on Nov. 7 against Morehouse.

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2008-09 AUBURN BASKETBALL SCHEDULE (all times Central)

Nov. 7 Morehouse (exh.), 6 pm
Nov. 14 Missouri State, 7 pm
Nov. 19 (1) Mercer, 7 pm
Nov. 22 George Washington, 1 pm
Nov. 25 (1) Bethune-Cookman, 7 pm
Nov. 28 (2) Dayton, 5 pm
Nov. 29 (2) Northern Iowa, 4:30 pm
Dec. 3 at Xavier (CBSCS), 7 pm
Dec. 6 Louisiana-Monroe, 1 pm
Dec. 17 Tuskegee, 7 pm
Dec. 20 at Virginia (FSN), 3 pm
Dec. 22 Alabama State, 7 pm
Dec. 29 Alabama A&M, 7 pm
Dec. 31 Southeastern Louisiana, 3 pm
Jan. 3 Tulane (DH), 4:30 pm
Jan. 10 at South Carolina, TBA
Jan. 14 Florida (Raycom), 7 pm
Jan. 17 Alabama, 1 pm
Jan. 21 at Kentucky (Raycom), 8 pm
Jan. 24 at Arkansas (Raycom), Noon
Jan. 27 Texas-Pan American, 7 pm
Jan. 31 Vanderbilt, 1 pm
Feb. 4 at Ole Miss, 7 pm
Feb. 7 Tennessee (Raycom), Noon
Feb. 11 Arkansas, 7 pm
Feb. 14 Mississippi State (FSN), 4 pm
Feb. 18 at Georgia, 6:30 pm
Feb. 21 at LSU, 7 pm
Feb. 25 Ole Miss, 7 pm
Feb. 28 at Mississippi State (FSN), 5 pm
Mar. 3 at Alabama (ESPN), 8 pm
Mar. 7 LSU, TBA
Mar. 12-15 (3) SEC Tournament (Raycom/CBS), TBA

(1) Chicago Invitational (Auburn, AL)
(2) Chicago Invitational (Hoffman Estates, IL)
(3) Tampa, FL (St. Pete Times Forum)
* All Times Central
(DH) Doubleheader with the Auburn Women