Drury has announced its official 2010-11 men's basketball schedule, including the always tough Great Lakes Valley Conference slate, the continued rivalry with Southwest Baptist and its first exhibition contest against an NCAA Division I opponent.
The Panthers will open their first season in the new O'Reilly Family Event Center by taking on Upper Iowa on Saturday, November 13 in a 6 p.m. contest in the $13.5 million, 3,100-seat arena on campus. Prior to that, coach Steve Hesser's DU squad will make the short trip down I-44 to Tulsa to take on NCAA Division I Oral Roberts in a 7:05 p.m. exhibition game on Tuesday, November 2 at the Mabee Center. The Golden Eagles have four starters returning from a team that finished 20-13 last season, including a 13-5 mark good for third place in the Summit League.
Other highlights of the slate include a November 17 visit from Arkansas Tech, which spent the majority of last season ranked as the nation's No. 1 D-II squad; the annual rivalry game with Southwest Baptist, this time set for Saturday, November 20 in Bolivar; and a chance to see a pair of regional foes on a neutral floor when the Panthers travel to Owensboro, Ky., November 26-27 to play Ferris State and Urbana in the Owensboro Classic hosted by Kentucky Wesleyan College.
"I believe it's the most challenging schedule we've played since I've been here," said Hesser, who owns a 124-52 in six seasons at Drury, including last season's 23-7 campaign.
The Panthers will open their GLVC schedule with home games against Illinois-Springfield on Thursday, December 2 and Saint Joseph's College on Saturday, December 4, the latter representing Drury's annual Athletics Hall of Fame festivities. The Panthers will play six of their final eight GLVC games at the OFEC, wrapping up the regular season with a visit from divisional rival Rockhurst on Saturday, February 19.
Drury will give its fans a sneak preview with a "Hoops Hysteria" event featuring both the DU men's and women's basketball teams in scrimmage form on Friday, October 15 (7 p.m.) at the OFEC, the first official day for practice for D-II squads.
The Panthers, who've qualified for the NCAA-II Tournament in four of the past five seasons, return four starters from last year's GLVC West champions, including returning league Freshman of the Year honoree and shooting guard Alex Hall (16.6 ppg) and junior guard Dennon Mitchell (12.2 ppg). Drury has also added seven new players to the mix, including 6-6 forward and DU graduate student JaJuan Maxwell, a transfer from NCAA Division I Southeast Missouri State.
Season tickets, starting at just $160, are now on sale to the general public for the first season in the O'Reilly Family Event Center and may be reserved by going online at
www.drurytickets.com or calling (417) 873-6389.
2010-11 Panthers Basketball Schedule