PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas -- Games against a Sweet 16 team , an NIT quarterfinalist, a team coached by a former NBA superstar, and one of the most unique neutral site games in program history await the Bethune-Cookman Men’s Basketball team in 2015-16.
Head Coach Gravelle Craig announced the schedule for his fifth campaign as the Wildcats’ Head Coach today on the team’s first full day of a five-day tour of the Bahamas.
“It’s a challenging schedule,” Craig said. “The goal is to get our team prepared to compete at a high level in conference. We play a top 20 team that presses all game in West Virginia; a very experienced team in Richmond; and the University of Akron who is always one of the top teams in the MAC – all on the road. When you include the Florida schools UCF, Jacksonville and Stetson, it’s a tough non-conference road schedule. We should be prepared come January."
Opening night will be Friday, November 13, against Trinity College at home in Historic Moore Gymnasium as part of a doubleheader with B-CU Women’s Basketball.
One week later, the Wildcats will be part of the Continental Tires Las Vegas Classic, but the first two games of the tournament will take B-CU on November 21, to face Richmond, who advanced to the 2015 NIT quarterfinals, then a trip to famed Morgantown, West Virginia to meet Bob Huggins and West Virginia, who appeared in the 2015 NCAA tournament’s Sweet 16, on November 23.
When Bethune-Cookman does get to Las Vegas, they’ll face nearby rival Stetson on Thanksgiving Day (November 26) and either Sam Houston State or East Carolina the following day.
The Wildcats play two games in Ohio, one against Akron on Dec. 12, and at Toledo Dec. 19. Senior point guard Ricky Johnson hails from Akron while Associate Head Coach Rodney Martin is a Toledo native.
Other non-conference road games include Tennessee-Martin (Nov. 16), UCF (Dec. 22), Brown (Dec. 28), Jacksonville (Dec. 31) and a Jan. 3 match-up in Phoenix against Grand Canyon, coached by NBA legend Dan Majerle. B-CU and Stetson also have a second meeting closer to home, this one in DeLand on Feb. 22.
B-CU’s non-conference home games will be Trinity Baptist on Dec. 3, and The Citadel on Dec. 16.
The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) schedule begins at home against South Carolina State on Dec. 7. The 16-game slate will see Coppin State and Morgan State make their first Daytona Beach appearance in three seasons Jan. 16-18; two-time regular season champion North Carolina Central in town Feb. 27; and arch-rival Florida A&M in Moore Gym on Jan. 30.
SCHEDULE NOTES: With the addition of Rhode Island, West Virginia and Tennessee, the Wildcats will have played in 24 states in the Craig era … This is the second straight year B-CU has travelled to Arizona to face Grand Canyon; B-CU has also played at Arizona and Arizona State in the past six years … B-CU has been to Ohio four times in the past five years … The Brown game will mark B-CU’s first-ever game against an Ivy League opponent … The Wildcats open conference play at home for the first time since Craig’s first season as coach in 2011-12; they beat Florida A&M 74-59 that year and went on to an 11-5 league record.