The finishing touches are starting to take shape in the new O'Reilly Family Event Center as it rapidly approaches its October opening on the Drury University campus.
The beautiful new wood arena floor is in place, offices are nearly completed and the locker rooms are nearing that status as the $13.5 million new home of the Drury basketball and volleyball squads will be unveiled soon to the public.
Season tickets for basketball are now on sale, starting as low as $160 per seat, and available by logging in to
www.drurytickets.com.
Coach Steve Hesser's Panthers return top players Alex Hall - the GLVC Freshman of the Year - and Dennon Mitchell from a squad that finished 23-7 overall and won its third GLVC West title in five seasons as a member last season, qualifying for the NCAA-II Tournament for the fourth time in five years.
Coach Steve Harold's Lady Panthers are led by the talented returning backcourt of senior Ja'Nell Jones and junior Katie Pritchard off a squad that posted a 28-7 record, won its second GLVC Championship in three years and made the NCAA-II Tournament field for the eighth straight year, advancing to the Sweet 16.
Both DU basketball teams will be on display for the first time on October 15 in the Hoops Hysteria: Meet the Panthers and Lady Panthers event. Both will open the regular season on Saturday, November 13, when the Lady Panthers play Northeastern State at 2 p.m. and the Panthers face Upper Iowa at 6 p.m.
Drury Volleyball, coached by Ashleigh Shear Fitzgerald, will play its first match in the OFEC when Missouri Science and Technology visits on Friday, October 8. The Panthers, coming off a 16-14 campaign that represented their best since moving to the D-II level in 1994, are picked for seventh in the 15-team GLVC preseason poll of league coaches.
To see the latest photo gallery for the O'Reilly Family Event Center,
please click here.