Excitement continues to build toward the October grand opening of the sparkling new O'Relly Family Event Center on campus, and Drury basketball fans can take advantage by getting in on the ground floor of this new era of Panther hoops by purchasing their season tickets online.
Fans can log in to
www.drurytickets.com and purchase their tickets for the 2010-11 basketball season for either the Panthers, Lady Panthers or both teams, with seats starting at just $160 for the season in the $13.5 million, 3,100-seat O'Reilly Family Event Center, which promises to be one of the finest NCAA Division II facilities in the country. For the latest look at some of the features, visit our photo gallery
by clicking here.
Both Drury squads are expected to be contenders yet again for Great Lakes Valley Conference titles and NCAA-II Tournament bids.
Coach Steve Hesser's Panthers return several key faces, including reigning GLVC Freshman of the Year Alex Hall, as well as an exciting batch of recruits for the 2010-11 season off of last year's 23-7 finisher, while Coach Steve Harold's Lady Panthers feature one of the nation's top backcourts in senior point guard Ja'Nell Jones and junior shooting guard Katie Pritchard, standouts returning from last year's 28-7 club that won its second GLVC title in three years and reached the NCAA-II Sweet 16.
Both DU teams will make their unofficial OFEC debut at a "Hoops Hysteria" event on Friday, October 15 - the official opening of practice for the coming season - and will christen the new arena with regular season openers on Saturday, November 13. The Lady Panthers will take on Northeastern State at 2 p.m. on that historic day before the Panthers play Upper Iowa at 6 p.m. The festivities will also include a between-games concert by former Lady Panther and rising country music sensation Liz Moriondo and a post-game concert by former Panther and country rock singer Matt Stell and the Crashers.
Other highlights of the home schedule for the coming season include a men's game against Arkansas Tech, which was the nation's top-ranked squad for most of last season, on Nov. 17; the continuation of the regional rivalry with the SBU women on Saturday, November 20; the first GLVC home doubleheader in the OFEC's history when Illinois-Springfield comes to town on Thursday, December 2, followed by a visit from league foe Saint Joseph's on December 4; the hot new rivalry with Northern Kentucky in GLVC doubleheader action on Saturday, February 5, two days after UIndy pays a visit to DU's new home; and the regular season-closing GLVC pair against traditional rival Rockhurst on Saturday, February 19, in addition to any GLVC Tournament opening round competitions.
Remember ... now's your chance to get in on an exciting new era of Drury basketball at the O'Reilly Family Event Center. Go online at
www.drurytickets.com to reserve your seats, or call (417) 873-6389 for more information.