Drury University has announced their men’s and women’s basketball schedule for the 2016-17 season.
The schedule features 26 home games over 19 dates and starts with a women’s basketball exhibition game on Thursday, Oct. 27 against Columbia (Mo.). The men’s team starts their home slate with an exhibition against Central Christian (Kan.) on Thursday, Nov. 3.
Once again, kids 12 years old and under will be admitted free to both men’s and women’s regular season games at the O’Reilly Family Event Center. Season tickets are currently on sale and can be purchased at the O’Reilly Family Event Center box office by calling (417) 873-6389 and through www.drurytickets.com. Single game tickets for the men’s and women’s home games will go on sale October 17.
Men’s basketball schedule
Following their exhibition game against Central Christian, Drury takes on Webster (Mo.) in their first regular season game with a 5 p.m. game on Nov. 12 at the O’Reilly Family Event Center.
Drury will host rival Southwest Baptist on Tue., Nov. 15 in the annual Highway 13 Cat Fight as part of eight straight regular season home games to start their schedule. The Panthers rivalry with Missouri Southern will be renewed as part of the Thanksgiving Classic at the O’Reilly Family Event Center. Drury faces Emporia State out of the MIAA conference in their other game that weekend.
The first road test for the Panthers doesn’t come until December when team travels to Boca Raton, Florida. Drury takes on Palm Beach Atlantic on Dec. 16 and host Lynn University on Dec. 17.
Drury will face Rockhurst on Saturday, Jan. 21 for the Overflow the O’ game. Homecoming and Senior Day for the Panthers falls on their final regular season home game when they take on Illinois-Springfield on Saturday, Feb. 11.
The regular season ends for Drury on Thursday, Feb. 23 at Missouri S&T.
This year’s Great Lakes Valley Conference tournament will be at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana and will be home to the quarterfinals, semifinals and championship games of both the men’s and women’s teams.
Following the NCAA-II Midwest Regional, hosted by the top seed in the region, this year’s NCAA-II Elite Eight event is in Sioux Falls, South Dakota on March 22-25.
Drury finished last season 19-8 and 14-4 in the GLVC where they won their third straight West Division title. The Panthers return three starters and nine lettermen from that team including all-conference point guard Tevin Foster.
The Lady Panthers schedule
The Lady Panthers will get an early test against a Big 10 opponent with an exhibition game at Illinois. Drury takes on the Illini on Sunday, Nov. 6 for a 2 p.m. game.
Drury heads to Nashville for games in the Pops Duncan Classic on Nov. 11-12 where they will face Kentucky Wesleyan and Trevecca Nazarene.
The Lady Panthers host an Emporia State team that finished last season ranked 20th in NCAA-II as part of their Thanksgiving Classic. Drury plays Panhandle State (Okla.) in the first game of the classic on Friday, Nov. 25 before their match-up with the Hornets.
In one of six games against teams that finished ranked in the top 25 at the end of last season, the Lady Panthers travel to Arkansas Tech on Dec. 7. Drury is then at Arkansas-Ft. Smith three days later.
Drury women’s basketball will host their Third Annual Kids’ Day at the O’ on Monday, Dec. 19 when the Lady Panthers take on Quincy at 11 a.m. The game will be a non-conference contest (the game counting in the league standings will be Jan. 28 at Quincy). The Hawks finished last season ranked 22nd nationally.
Lewis finished last season ranked 4th nationally and come to the O’ on Saturday, Jan. 7. Last year the Flyers handed Drury one of their two GLVC regular season losses in Romeoville, Illinois.
Drury will play six games against teams ranked in the top 25 at end of last season: Emporia St. (#20, Nov. 26 at home), at Arkansas Tech (#15, Dec. 7), Quincy (#22 Dec. 19 at home and at Quincy Jan. 28), Lewis (#4, Jan. 7 at home) and at Bellarmine (#24, Feb. 2).
As with the men’s GLVC championship tournament, Evansville, Indiana is the site for the women’s conference postseason. After the NCAA-II regionals are hosted by the top seeded team in the region, and the women’s Elite Eight is in Columbus, Ohio on March 22-25.
The Lady Panthers advanced to the Midwest Regional final and finished in the national round of 16 last year. Three starters and seven letter winners return from that team that went 26-5, 16-2 in the GLVC and won the West Division for the third straight year as well as for the ninth time in 11 seasons.
