Hello, Brooklyn! Boston College Basketball To Face VCU At Barclays Center

The Boston College men's basketball team made the long rumored game against Virginia Commonwealth official on Monday, announcing that the Eagles and Rams will play on Saturday, December 28 at the Brooklyn Nets new Barclays Center. The game is part of the second annual Brooklyn Hoops Winter Festival, a tripleheader that will also pit St. John's against Columbia and Kansas State against Tulane.

This will be the first ever meeting between the Eagles and Rams. VCU is coming off its third consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance and fourth in five years. The Rams joined the A-10 for the 2012-13 season after previously competing in the Colonial Athletic.

Tickets will go on sale on May 17 at 10 a.m. and can be purchased via Ticketmaster by visiting barclayscenter.com, ticketmaster.com or by calling 800-745-3000.

A neutral site game against VCU adds to the already very strong non-conference schedule for BC in 2013-14. In addition to facing the Rams, BC has road/neutral non-conference dates with USC, Auburn, Harvard, Providence and UMass as well as the 2K Sports Classic at MSG against two of Indiana, UCONN and Washington.

In addition to giving a rather sizeable New York City alumni base three opportunities to watch the Eagles in the five boroughs in 2013-14, this trip, along with the 2K Sports Classic, has very real recruiting benefits. Since the program stopped playing St. John's, Seton Hall and New York's College Team Syracuse on a regular basis, BC has seemingly moved away from heavily recruiting New York City. Hopefully the exposure in New York generated from two separate trips to the Big Apple will help Donahue and the staff re-open a dormant NYC recruiting pipeline to complement the existing one in southern California.

Pre-game drinks at The Brazen Head? Pre-game drinks at The Brazen Head.