Aug. 22, 2005
NORMAL, Ill. -
The 2005-06 Illinois State men's basketball regular season schedule was completed Monday, when the Missouri Valley Conference office released the league portion for all member schools. The athletics department only needs to finalize the contract with an exhibition opponent for early November to fully complete the entire schedule.
"There is no question that the league is going to be as good, or better, than last year," head coach Porter Moser said. "Night in and night out, we will either have a quality team coming into Redbird Arena or we will be playing in front of a tough environment. Because the league is so competitive right now, anyway you look at the schedule you are going to have your tough stretches."
Coming out of the gate, the Redbirds will have a tough stretch. Following eight non-conference match-ups, the Redbirds will start league play for the second straight year on the road. On Dec. 22, the `Birds will travel to Terre Haute, Ind., to face Indiana State. Following the Sycamores, the Redbirds will play six straight games against teams that finished fifth or better in the regular season standings last season. During that span, the Redbirds will close out the regular season series with Creighton, including a New Year's Eve contest in Redbird Arena, and Northern Iowa, travel to Missouri State and host Wichita State.
The seven-game stretch ends on Jan. 14 with the Redbirds hosting Northern Iowa, which earned an at-large berth in the NCAA Tournament last season. The next four contests also pose a challenge with a pair of match-ups against three-time league champion Southern Illinois sandwiched between home dates against Evansville and Indiana State. In all, eight of the Redbirds' first 11 conference games will be against teams that finished fifth or better a year ago.
Following the home date on Jan. 28 against Southern Illinois, ISU will hit the road for three straight games. On Feb. 1, Illinois State will renew the Interstate-74 rivalry with Bradley, before traveling to Evansville on Jan. 4 and Drake on Feb. 7.
The Redbirds will close out the league slate with three out of the last four conference games taking place in Redbird Arena. On Feb. 11, the `Birds will host Bradley, while Drake will come into Normal on Feb. 14. Following the ESPN Bracket Buster Saturday game on Feb. 18, the Redbirds will host Missouri State on Feb. 22 and will close out the regular season on the road at Wichita State on Feb. 25.
"Finally getting the schedule on paper just gets me fired up," Moser said. "Now with the students back in school and finally knowing where you are going to be and who you are going to play, just really gets me excited about getting ready for the season. The fans all around the Valley are going to be in for an exciting year of basketball."
The 2006 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament will feature a new layout with everything moving up a day. The play-in games will be held Thursday night and the tournament championship will take place on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m.
