Indiana State To Visit Nt

mgsteve · August 27, 2007

Indiana State announces finalized men's basktball schedule

By Todd Golden

The Tribune-Star

TERRE HAUTE — Five nonconference home games are on the schedule for the Indiana State men’s basketball team. Not as many as coach Kevin McKenna would have liked, but it will have to do.

“ We’re going to be road warriors this year. But with a senior point guard like Gabe [Moore] and the returning experience we have we should be OK,” McKenna said.

The highlight of the ISU (13-18 last season) nonconference schedule is a Dec. 1 date at Purdue. It is the first of two trips to West Lafayette. The opening game of the three-year contract was last December at Hulman Center, an 89-70 ISU victory. It is the fourth season in a row ISU has faced a Big Ten Conference opponent. The Sycamores are 2-2 since the 2004-05 season against Indiana and Purdue.

The regular season opener is against Oakland City, the second season in a row ISU has hosted the Division II school as the Sycamores beat the Mighty Oaks 66-52 last year. ISU was one of six Missouri Valley Conference schools to play a non-Division I opponent last year.

ISU follows with a trip to Butler. The Sycamores have beaten the Bulldogs in their last three meetings, including a 72-64 thriller at Hulman Center last year which Butler was ranked No. 14 in the nation.

ISU stays on the road with a trip to North Texas on Nov. 17. The home-and-home with the Mean Green — who will play in Terre Haute in 2008-09 — was the last addition to the schedule as ISU tried in vain to fill that date with a home game. The last game in the series was 2000, but ISU hasn’t played at North Texas since 1968.

“I would have liked to have had that game at home,” McKenna said. “But we’re going to be in the same boat next year, so I finally decided that we’d just suck it up and go on the road and get the guaranteed home game next year.”

Home games follow against Northern Illinois on Nov. 20 and IPFW on Nov. 24. One of the Sycamores’ most humiliating recent defeats came at the hands of the Mastodons during their last trip to Terre Haute on Jan. 2, 2006, a 54-46 ISU loss.

ISU follows the Purdue game with a Dec. 4 trip to Miami of Ohio, completing the back end of a Bracket Buster meeting at Hulman Center last season. ISU last played in Oxford, Ohio in 1991.

Ball State visits on Dec. 8. The troubled Cardinals, led by new coach Billy Taylor, have not win in Terre Haute in their last two visits.

After exams, ISU travels to Tulane for a Monday game against the Green Wave, completing a two-year contract. ISU played in Tulane’s tournament in 2002, but haven’t played the Green Wave in New Orleans since 1970.

Unlike last season, when ISU played a Missouri Valley Conference game the Saturday after exams at Missouri State, it will be an open date this year. The nine-day gap between games would be the longest for ISU since the 1993-94 season when the Sycamores had an 11-day break.

“It’s kind of a long stretch, but we couldn’t find the right games over that weekend and we’re not going to play during exam week,” McKenna said.

The last nonconference game before Missouri Valley Conference play begins in earnest is a Dec. 22 home game against Bowling Green — a one-year contract. ISU will also play a road Bracket Buster game on Feb. 22 or Feb. 23, 2008.

ISU begins Valley play at Evansville on Dec. 29. ISU does not have more than two Valley road games in succession, though it plays four of five away from Hulman Center (Illinois State, Bradley, Southern Illinois, Wichita State) from Jan. 27 to Feb. 9. ISU plays three consecutive home games from Feb. 12 to Feb. 19 (Bradley, Illinois State, Wichita State).

ISU concludes its regular season at home against Missouri State on March 1. The Valley tournament begins on March 6 at Scottrade Center in St. Louis.

The Sycamores will play nearby DePauw in its exhibition opener on Nov. 1 — the Tigers were a one-time staple on the regular season schedule, having played ISU 72 times up to the 1968-69 season. An exhibition with Nebraska-Kearney follows on Nov. 4.

“There’s good spacing in the schedule, we don’t have three road games in a row, for example. We’re going to be challenged in the conference and you want some similarities with your nonconference and conferences schedules, so with four non-conference road games, we’ll have it,” McKenna said.

Indiana State 2007-08 basketball schedule

Thurs, Nov. 1 — DePauw (exhibition)

Sun, Nov. 4 — Nebraska-Kearney (exhibition)

Fri., Nov. 9 — Oakland City

Wed., Nov. 14 — at Butler

Sat., Nov. 17 — at North Texas

Tues., Nov. 20 — Northern Illinois

Sat., Nov. 24 — IPFW

Sat. Dec. 1 — at Purdue

Tues, Dec. 4 — at Miami of Ohio

Sat., Dec. 8 — Ball State

Mon., Dec. 17 — at Tulane

Sat. Dec. 22 — Bowling Green

Sat. Dec. 29 — at Evansville

Wed., Jan. 2 — Creighton

Sat., Jan. 5 — Northern Iowa

Wed., Jan. 9 — at Drake

Sat., Jan. 12 — Southern Illinois

Tues., Jan. 15 — at Missouri State

Sat., Jan. 19 — at Creighton

Wed., Jan. 23 — Evansville

Sun., Jan. 27 — at Illinois State

Wed., Jan. 30 — at Bradley

Sat., Feb. 2 — Drake

Tues., Feb. 5 — at Southern Illinois

Sat., Feb. 9 — at Wichita State

Tues., Feb. 12 — Bradley

Sat., Feb. 16 — Illinois State

Tues., Feb. 19 — Wichita State

Fri. or Sat., Feb. 22 or 23 — at Bracket Buster

Wed., Feb. 27 — at Northern Iowa

Sat., March 1 — Missouri State

Thurs., March 6-Sun., March 9 MVC tourney at St. Louis

Eagle1855 · August 27, 2007

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CMJ · August 27, 2007

Larry Bird's alma mater. Good game....

gksmith · August 27, 2007

Fortunately, Bird lost his college eligibility some years ago. So no Larry on the floor that night.

CMJ · August 27, 2007

Fortunately, Bird lost his college eligibility some years ago. So no Larry on the floor that night.

:lol: Indeed

chrisfisher · August 27, 2007

Indiana State and Oklahoma State at home this season! Go RV! Keep them coming... We now have some decent OOC foes to beat up on this season...

Quoner · August 27, 2007

Indiana State and Oklahoma State at home this season! Go RV! Keep them coming... We now have some decent OOC foes to beat up on this season...

Chris, you think we can keep Bird in check long enough for our first rounders to take over the game?

NT03 · August 27, 2007

Our schedule should be set now, right ??? Last I heard ( like 2 months ago) we were just one game away from announcing our schedule. I think we should be expecting it to come out tommorrow , or later today.

Gotta love those blue uni's.!!

Edited August 27, 2007 by NT03