Mizzou basketball announces non-conference schedule

By foxsports
Published

Courtesy: Mizzou
Athletics


Kansas City, Mo.
–


 Mizzou Athletics utilized today's Tiger Scholarship Fund
outing in Kansas City to unveil its 2013-14 Men's Basketball
non-conference schedule. A return to Sprint Center on Nov. 16 vs.
Hawaii, the annual Bud Light Braggin' Rights Game vs. Illinois in St.
Louis and home games against UCLA and West Virginia highlight a
challenging slate.

Mizzou also begins a home-and-home
series with North Carolina State on Dec. 28 in Raleigh, N.C., and hosts
games vs. postseason qualifiers Western Michigan and Long Beach
State.

"We have a little bit of everything on our
schedule for next season and I believe it will get our team ready for
play in the SEC," Head Coach Frank Haith said. "It was really important
for us to get that home schedule attractive for our fans, not only for
this year, but for years to come, so the series with North Carolina
State made a lot of sense.

"Games our fans will
immediately recognize are the Bud Light Braggin' Rights Game vs.
Illinois and home games against UCLA and West Virginia," Haith
continued. "But Western Michigan won 20 games last year, Long Beach
State has become a perennial power on the West Coast and our fans are
well aware of Southern Illinois' tradition, so this is a balanced,
competitive schedule.

"Another major focus was to get
back to Kansas City," Haith added. "We have tremendous support in K.C.
and that was very evident during my first year when we played games in
the CBE and the Big 12 Tournament. Hawaii will be a good team and I
think everyone expects them to challenge Long Beach State for that
league's title next season. They have three or four starters back, have
some transfers becoming eligible and our fans will remember Christian
Standhardinger, who was very good his first two years at Nebraska, so it
will be an important game for us with so many new
faces."

Missouri owns a current five-game winning
streak at Sprint Center with each of those wins coming under Haith. The
Tigers meet Hawaii for the sixth time in series history (just the second
time in the state of Missouri) and the Nov. 16 tip-off comes on a bye
weekend for Head Coach Gary Pinkel's Football squad. Ticket information
for this game will be announced later this
summer.

"We are certainly excited to be taking a game
from Mizzou Arena and bringing it to our tremendous fan base in Kansas
City," Mizzou Director of Athletics Mike Alden said. "This is an
important first step in getting our programs competing in Kansas City
once again and I know Tiger Nation will be excited to come out and see
their team play at Sprint Center on Nov.
16."

Announced earlier this spring was Mizzou's
participation in the Las Vegas Invitational (Nov. 28-29). Played at the
Orleans Arena over the Thanksgiving holiday, the Tigers will face
Northwestern and Nevada in a "classic" format. Complete tournament
information will be announced later this summer by event organizers.


Two more home games and exhibition contests will be
announced at a later date. Games on Nov. 23 and Nov. 25 are part of the
2013 Las Vegas Invitational and will be announced by tournament
organizers this summer. The opponents for those two dates will come from
the following field: University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Indiana
University-Purdue University of Indianapolis (IUPUI), Morehead State
(Ky.) and Gardner Webb University (N.C.).

Missouri's
complete schedule, including the 2014 Southeastern Conference Schedule,
will be announced later this summer.