Cleveland State Men’s Basketball Schedule Released

A total of 13 home games, including two at Quicken Loans Arena, the 18 game Horizon League schedule and road contests at preseason nationally-ranked Kentucky and Purdue highlight the 2016-17 Cleveland State men’s basketball schedule that was announced on Wednesday.

“I feel that this year’s schedule is very competitive with a good degree of difficulty,” head coach Gary Waters said. “It’s a balanced schedule that allows us to play tough games at home and on the road to prepare us for the Horizon League schedule.”

CSU will host Tiffin for its lone exhibition game of the preseason on Nov. 8 before opening the regular season on Nov. 12 against Kent State in Youngstown as part of the Northeast Ohio Doubleheader Benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer. YSU will host Akron in the second game of the doubleheader.

The regular season home opener is on Nov. 15 against Canisius, the first of four games as part of the Bluegrass Classic, which concludes with road contests at Tennessee-Martin (Nov. 19), Kentucky (Nov. 23) and Duquesne (Nov. 27).

The month of November concludes with a game at Arkansas State (Nov. 30).

December opens with back-to-back games at Quicken Loans Arena with the Vikings hosting Bethune-Cookman (Dec. 3), coached by former CSU standout Gravelle Craig, and Western Michigan (Dec. 7).

Trips to Purdue (Dec. 10), Ohio (Dec. 17) and Belmont (Dec. 22) are sandwiched around a home game against Lake Erie (Dec. 19) to conclude the nonconference slate.

The 18-game Horizon League schedule begins at home against defending League champion Green Bay on Dec. 29 followed by a contest versus Milwaukee on New Year’s Eve.

The game against Milwaukee will be the first of six doubleheaders with the CSU women’s team.

The other Horizon League home games are against UIC (Jan. 12), Valparaiso (Jan. 14), Detroit (Feb. 2), Oakland (Feb. 4), Northern Kentucky (Feb. 16) and Wright State (Feb. 18).

CSU closes the regular season against Youngstown State on Feb. 25 in the Wolstein Center, leading into the Horizon League Championship which runs from March 3-7 at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.