CHICAGO – Second-year Chicago State University (CSU) men's basketball head coach
Tracy Dildy has announced today the release of the team's 2011-12 schedule in which CSU takes on seven teams that competed in three national postseason tournaments last season, including three NCAA Tournament teams (Cincinnati, Illinois and San Diego State).
The Cougars' 30-game slate also include 12 home games at the Emil and Patricia A. Jones Convocation Center, 10 Great West Conference contests, an appearance in the Dale Howard Classic in November, a pair of home exhibition games and hosting the third-annual Great West Conference Tournament in March.
“We have really created a big-time atmosphere here at CSU (in terms of scheduling) and to face some good teams on our home court with the nucleus of young men we now have in our program is exciting,” Dildy stated. “We feel good about that and will be ready to compete with this schedule in November.”
CSU start off the year with exhibition games at the Jones Convocation Center against a pair of NAIA schools in Roosevelt on Nov. 5 and St. Ambrose on Nov. 7.
The Cougars begin the regular season on the road at Iowa (Nov. 11), Creighton, 2011 College Basketball Invitational runner-up, (Nov. 13), and North Carolina A&T (Nov. 19) as part of the Dale Howard Classic before concluding the exempt tournament on Nov. 21 with its home opener against Campbell. The Green and White finish off the month of November with road battles at three in-state foes – Southern Illinois (Nov. 25), Illinois (Nov. 27) and Illinois State (Nov. 30).
The final month of 2011 opens with the Cougars playing five of seven games away from home versus DePaul (Dec. 10), 2011 NIT champion Wichita State (Dec. 14), Loyola (Dec. 17), Cincinnati (Dec. 23) and Ball State (Dec. 31) in addition to a pair of home contests at the Jones Convocation Center against Toledo on Dec. 3 and Pac-12 Conference member Oregon State on Dec. 21.
A Mountain West Conference road swing with games at Air Force on Jan. 6 and San Diego State on Jan. 10 start off the year 2012 for CSU before opening a three-game homestand on Jan. 15 against NAIA member Saint Francis (Ill.). The Cougars then begin Great West Conference play with home games versus Texas-Pan American (Jan. 19) and Houston Baptist (Jan. 21) followed by a pair of road contests at defending GWC champ Utah Valley (Jan. 26) and North Dakota (Jan. 28) to close out January.
The Green and White open four-game homestand at the Jones Convocation Center to kick off the month of February beginning with the annual homecoming game against GWC foe NJIT on Feb. 4 and continues on Feb. 7 with a non-conference showdown against IPFW.
Great West Conference rematches are back on the docket for the Cougars with North Dakota (Feb. 9) and Utah Valley (Feb. 11) closing out the homestand before traveling to Texas to take on Houston Baptist (Feb. 16) and Texas-Pan American (Feb. 18).
CSU heads back home for its final two non-conference home contests against Urbana University from Ohio on Feb. 25 and SIU Edwardsville on Feb. 29 for senior night. The Cougars then travel to the east coast on March 3 with their regular-season finale at NJIT.
The Green and White host the GWC Tournament at the Jones Convocation Center on March 8-10 in which all six conference teams will compete for the conference's tournament title and automatic bid to the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament.
(Chicago, Ill./Farragut) #
