SIUE releases schedule for upcoming season

EDWARDSVILLE -- Southern Illinois University Edwardsville released its men's basketball schedule Wednesday, in what will be the Cougars' first full-fledged season at the Division I level.

The Cougars, who won't begin competition in the Ohio Valley Conference until the 2011-12 season, will play a broad-based schedule that will take the team to nine states.

The home schedule includes 13 games, including Illinois State at 2 p.m. on Nov. 15. Future OVC rival Murray State comes to SIUE on Dec. 30.

"I'm excited about the schedule," Cougars coach Lennox Forrester said. "We expect challenges along the way with regional opponents and some nationally known names. We are especially excited about playing Illinois State, a well-respected Missouri Valley Conference team that has competed the last several seasons at a very high level.

"To get them to come to the Vadalabene Center is very exciting for us."

The travel schedule includes regular-season games against Illinois (Nov. 13) and Purdue (Dec. 22). The Cougars have road contests with OVC partners Morehead State University (Jan. 19), Tennesse-Martin (Jan. 25), Murray State (Jan. 27) and Southeast Missouri State (Feb. 22).

SIUE also plays two teams to be announced at the Drake Invitational on Dec. 4-5 in Des Moines, Iowa.

The rest of the home schedule includes: Lipscomb (Nov. 28), IUPU-Fort Wayne (Dec. 1), Loyola (Dec. 20), Missouri-Kansas City (Dec. 28), Milwaukee (Jan. 5), Robert Morris of Springfield (Jan. 21), South Dakota (Feb. 5), North Dakota (Feb. 7), and Hannibal-LaGrange (Feb. 25).

Other SIUE road games include: Evansville (Nov. 18), Ball State (Nov. 21), Lipscomb (Dec. 10), Middle Tennessee State (Dec. 13), South Dakota (Jan. 9), Kennesaw State (Jan. 12), North Dakota (Feb. 18) and IUPU-Fort Wayne (Feb. 23).

Forrester said times and dates of games are subject to change because of television contracts, which is common among NCAA Division I schools. Several games have yet to set starting times.

Season tickets packages are available. Single-game tickets are available for as low as $5. Go to siuecougars.com or call 650-2841 to reserve your seat.