SOUTH KINGSTOWN — The URI basketball team will have 13 games televised this season, including three nationally and nine from the Ryan Center.

The national visibility comes early. Sunday’s game at Duke will be telecast on ESPNU (Cox Cable Channel 134) at 4:30 p.m. Rhode Island’s visit to Oklahoma City to meet Oklahoma State in the O’Reilly All-College Basketball Classic on Dec. 20 will be shown on ESPN Classic (Cox Channel 132) at 7:30 p.m.

The third televised game will be from the Ryan Center, against A-10 champion Xavier. That will be Jan. 15 at 8 on CBS College Sports (Cox channel 135).

Other games will be produced by Cox Communications through its partnership with the URI athletic department.

“We are grateful for our partnership with Cox and the commitment they make to the University of Rhode Island,” said Thorr Bjorn, URI director of athletics. “We feel it is the strongest media partnership in the Atlantic 10 and, as a result, can offer our fans the highest-quality broadcast of our men’s basketball games.”

In addition, the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds of the 2009 Atlantic 10 Tournament will be broadcast live on Cox Sports Television and CBS College Sports. The A-10 title game will be aired live on ESPN as part of its Championship Week package.

pkenyon@projo.com