SPRINGFIELD — Missouri State men’s basketball coach Paul Lusk has announced his program’s non-conference schedule for the upcoming 2017-18 campaign, a slate that includes six home contests.
The Bears will officially open the season on Friday, Nov. 10 and grind through 14 non-conference games, including a multi-team event in Estero, Fla., on Thanksgiving week.
“We have a competitive non-conference schedule that will prepare us for The Valley,” Lusk explained. “I love this group and I’m looking forward to the season and competing for a championship.”
The 2017-18 season will begin with a homecoming weekend sneak preview scrimmage on Saturday, Oct. 28 at JQH Arena, starting at 10 a.m., followed by the club’s only preseason exhibition game on Wednesday, Nov. 1 against Southwest Baptist University.
The regular season kicks off at Western Kentucky on Friday, Nov. 10. The Hilltoppers from Conference USA were 15-17 last season, but have an influx of newcomers to beef up their 2017-18 roster, including freshman Taveion Hollingsworth, Kentucky’s Mr. Basketball last season. WKU, which was 11-3 at home a year ago, spent early August in Costa Rica as part of its NCAA-sanctioned foreign tour, and will utilize its passports again in late November at the Battle for Atlantis in the Bahamas.
The Bears then begin a two-game home stand in mid-November to give fans a chance to see this year’s club in person at The Q. The home opener on Wednesday, Nov. 15 against Southern University will precede North Dakota State’s second trip to JQH Arena is as many seasons with a visit from the Bison on Nov. 17. The Bears and Bison will also play in Fargo on Dec. 4 as part of a home-and-home series.
Southern was a contender in the SWAC race last winter and its cast of returning talent includes 6-foot-9 senior Jared Sam who averaged 13.6 points and 7.4 rebounds per contest. NDSU, which led The Summit League in attendance last season, is 37-3 at home since David Richman was hired as head coach in 2014. The Bison return two double-figure scorers in seniors Paul Miller (16.7 ppg, 74 threes) and A.J. Jacobsen (10.6 ppg, 5.5 rpg).
MSU then travels to Estero, Fla., Nov. 20-22 for the Gulf Coast Showcase, an eight-team, three-game event at Germain Arena. Missouri State opens the event against Georgia Southern, which returns nearly everyone from an 18-14 squad and has the best three-year RPI average among the event’s participants. The Bears will then play Manhattan or UMKC on day two before a final-day (Nov. 22) matchup against one of the clubs on the opposite side of the bracket – Penn, Northern Illinois, Towson or Florida Atlantic.
The Bears then close out the month of November with a pair of home games. Lusk’s troops entertain cross-town Evangel University on Nov. 24, as the home guarantee game from the Gulf Coast Showcase, and then host Colorado State in the Mountain West-MVC Challenge.
MSU and Evangel have not played a regular-season game since 1985, while Colorado State has several ingredients returning from a 24-12 club that played into the second round of the NIT last season. CSU returns three starters, including junior Prentiss Nixon who averaged 13.2 points, dropped in 55 treys and converted 81.3 percent from the line.
The squad’s five-game December schedule begins with a two-game trip to the Dakotas for a Dec. 2 matchup against South Dakota State in Sioux Falls, before a return game at NDSU on Dec. 4.
South Dakota State won the Summit League’s automatic NCAA Tournament berth last season and returns one of the nation’s top players in Mike Daum. The junior averaged 25.1 points per game and was the Summit League Player of the Year as a sophomore. He dropped in 20 or more points in 25 games and added 79 threes and 8.1 rebounds per game to his impressive stat line.
The Bears will host Hampton University on Friday, Dec. 8, travel to regional rival Oral Roberts on Dec. 10 and then close out the non-conference schedule at JQH Arena against Wright State on Dec. 19.
Hampton was a participant in the CBI last postseason and spent late summer in Puerto Rico for its foreign tour series. Sophomore Jermaine Marrow returns as the Pirates’ top scorer after pouring in 15.6 points with a team-high 3.0 assists. ORU’s new head coach Paul Mills will have built-in offense included with his inaugural club as the Golden Eagles return senior center Albert Owens who scored 17.4 points per game last season. Mills’ only other senior is graduate transfer and former Bear Austin Ruder. Wright State won 20 games last season in the Horizon League and returns senior sharp shooter Grant Benzinger who knocked down 78 treys and averaged 12.8 points per game a year ago. He also averaged 5.8 rebounds per game as a junior and played over the summer in China as part of an Athletes in Action Tour.
The Missouri Valley Conference portion of the schedule is expected to be released in September. The 2018 MVC Tournament returns to Scottrade Center in St. Louis, March 1-4.
Missouri State returns five lettermen, four starters and three squad members from a 17-16 campaign. The Bears have also added six newcomers to the 2017-18 roster, including graduate transfers Tanveer Bhullar (New Mexico State) and J.T. Miller (Howard), in addition to two freshmen, a sophomore transfer and a junior transfer.
