2010-11 Schedule
MOREHEAD, Ky. – Fourteen home games, season opening games at a Sweet 16 and an Elite Eight opponent, and a Thanksgiving trip to Miami are what awaits the Morehead State women’s basketball team in 2010-11 as coach Tom Hodges announced his team’s schedule this week.
“I think the schedule lends to a very challenging year,” said Hodges, who in his first season will be the youngest women’s basketball head coach in Division I. “When you start out at an Elite Eight team and then two days later play a Sweet 16 team, you definitely get a great sense of where you are and what you need to do better right off the bat.”
The Eagles open the year at Kentucky on Friday, Nov. 12 in a contest scheduled to tip off at 11 a.m. at Memorial Coliseum. The Eagles and Wildcats will be playing the first official Division I regular season game in the nation. On Monday, Nov. 15 the Eagles will play at Notre Dame. The Irish are a former national championship program and advanced to the Sweet 16 last year.
MSU returns home to host the Comfort Inn and Suites Classic on Nov. 19-21. The Eagles will battle Central Arkansas (Nov. 19), Houston Baptist (Nov. 20) and Norfolk State (Nov. 21). With just a few days to recover, MSU will board a flight to Miami to play in the Florida International Tournament on Nov. 26-28. Possible opponents will be Indiana State, Western Michigan and FIU.
“After we play two tough road games, we come home for three straight days against some tough teams and then go to Miami right away after that. Those gamut of games are going to be a real challenge for us mentally and physically. Having coached in the Sun Belt Conference, I am familiar with Florida International, but ISU and WMU are extremely good programs too, and the three teams in our tournament will pose challenges as well,” said Hodges.
The Ohio Valley Conference portion of the schedule begins in early December, and in fact the Eagles will play four league games before Christmas break. It starts with home games versus UT Martin (Dec. 2) and Murray State (Dec. 4). MSU will travel to Tennessee State (Dec. 19) and Austin Peay (Dec. 21) before the Holiday as well. In the past few years, all OVC teams have played no more than two league games before January.
“That certainly sets up an interesting scenario,” said Hodges about the four OVC games. “What I do like is that we get to start off at home and also get a tough TSU/APSU trip done early on as well. What I don’t like is the fact that we play UT Martin and Murray State first and then not again until the last two games. We could potentially be a completely different basketball team by the time February rolls around, so it should be interesting to see how it will play out.”
The Eagles have three other non-conference games before beginning the brunt of the OVC schedule. MSU will be at SIU Edwardsville (Dec. 12) and Marshall (Dec. 28) and host Longwood (Jan. 2).
The post-Christmas OVC ledger begins with home games against Tennessee Tech (Jan. 6) and Jacksonville State (Jan. 8) before a road trip to Southeast Missouri (Jan. 13) and Eastern Illinois (Jan. 15).
The Eagles will begin a four-game homestand with SIU Edwardsville, who will begin league competition in 2011-12, on Jan. 19. Also in this portion is Eastern Kentucky (Jan. 22), Tennessee State (Jan. 27), and Austin Peay (Jan. 29). A road trip to Jacksonville State (Feb. 3) and Tech (Feb. 5) begins the final month. EIU and SEMO visit Johnson Arena on Feb. 10 and Feb. 12 as the contest against SEMO will mark the final home regular season game.
MSU finishes the regular season at EKU (Feb. 19), Murray State (Feb. 24) and UT Martin (Feb. 26).
The entire four rounds of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament will take place in Nashville’s Municipal Auditorium March 1-5. The top two seeded teams receive two byes straight into the semifinals, while the three and four seeds receive a bye right into the quarterfinals.
