BLACKSBURG, Va. - A trip to the Great Alaska Shootout and a return engagement in Madison Square Garden, plus eight home Atlantic Coast Conference contests, highlight the 2007-08 Virginia Tech men's basketball schedule.

The Hokies open the 2007-08 ACC conference season on Sunday, Dec. 23, as they travel to Winston-Salem to play Wake Forest in a game nationally-televised by Fox Sports Net. Tech will host ACC foes Maryland, Duke, Florida State, Virginia, Miami, Georgia Tech, Boston College and Wake Forest in Cassell Coliseum. The Hokies will travel to Wake Forest, Virginia, Georgia Tech, Boston College, NC State, North Carolina, Maryland and Clemson this season.

"The 2007-08 schedule will be one of the toughest in the history of Virginia Tech," head coach Seth Greenberg said. "The non-conference schedule is highlighted by a trip to Alaska against maybe the premier tournament field in the country. Trips to New York for the prestigious Holiday Festival, along with games against periennial NCAA opponents Old Dominion and George Washington, as well as a road game against an improving Penn State team will offer tremendous challenges to our young basketball team."

Virginia Tech will participate in the 30^th annual Carrs/Safeway Great Alaska Shootout in Anchorage, Alaska over the Thanksgiving weekend. The Hokies will open play on Wednesday, Nov. 21. The Hokies are joined in this top field by Gonzaga, Michigan, Texas Tech, Butler, Eastern Washington, Western Kentucky and host Alaska-Anchorage. Brackets will be announced at a later date.

For the second consecutive season, the Hokies will play in Madison Square Garden in New York City. Tech will play Hofstra in the first round of the ECAC Holiday Festival on Friday, Dec. 28. The next night, the Hokies will play either St. John's or Marist in the Garden.

The Hokies will travel to Penn State on Wed., Nov. 28 in the ninth annual Big Ten/ACC Challenge. This will be the Hokies' third appearance in the challenge. Tech defeated Iowa, 69-65, in Cassell Coliseum last season to even its Big Ten/ACC Challenge record at 1-1.

The Hokies open the 2007-08 season at home against Elon on Friday, Nov. 9. The Hokies will also host UNC Asheville, UNC Greensboro, George Washington, Liberty and Charleston Southern as part of the non-conference schedule. Virginia Tech will play non-conference road games at Richmond and Old Dominion.

"We think this schedule will prepare us for the ACC slate," Greenberg said. "There are no rocking-chair games on this schedule. It has tremendous balance between home and road. Most importantly, our early season will challenge us and give us an opportunity to learn more about ourselves prior to league play."

The Hokies will have at least 18 regular season games televised, including games on CBS, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, Fox Sports Net and various regional sports networks. More games may be added to television schedules at a later date. Also, all games in the ACC Tournament will be televised by either Raycom/Lincoln Financial or one of the ESPN family of networks.