By Matt Schabert
The defending Ohio Valley Conference Tournament champion Morehead State men's basketball program will open the 2009-10 season at Rupp Arena against the University of Kentucky on Nov. 13 and host 15 regular season home games in Johnson Arena this season. The schedule, announced this week by MSU head coach Donnie Tyndall, also includes several high profile programs visiting the Eagles in Morehead.
After the opener against Kentucky and newly hired head coach John Calipari, the Eagles will host Louisiana-Monroe, Kent State and East Tennessee along with all nine OVC schools and SIU Edwardsville. An exhibition home game against Asbury is scheduled for Nov. 9.
"I feel like this will be a challenging schedule for our team," said Tyndall. "However, for the first time in my tenure here, we have a very favorable home schedule with many great Division I programs coming to Morehead. We are also really appreciative of Coach Calipari for allowing us to open our schedule with them at Rupp Arena this year. We understand this will be huge challenge for us, but I think it will be an experience our kids and our fans will thoroughly enjoy."
Kentucky leads the all-time series with MSU 8-0 but the two in-state schools have not met since the 2004-05 season.
After the season opener, the Eagles return for their home opener on Nov. 16 against Brescia. Louisiana-Monroe visits on Nov. 21, and the Eagles host Kent State on Dec. 29. The Golden Flashes hosted MSU last season in the ESPNU Bracket Buster event. The home schedule continues on Dec. 15 with St. Catharine's and then East Tennessee State on Dec. 18.
The Eagles will also be participating in a multi-team event tournament at Utah State Dec. 21-23. MSU will face the host Aggies, Weber State and Cal-State Fullerton. The pre-Christmas portion of the ledger also will include two OVC road games. MSU opens the conference slate this season on Dec. 3 at defending regular season champion UT Martin and battles Murray State ob Dec. 5. On Dec. 28, MSU will travel north to face the University of South Dakota.
The Eagles' home opener will be a re-match of last year's OVC Tournament championship game as Austin Peay visits on Jan. 2 followed by Tennessee Sate on Jan. 4. The Eagles will have a three-game home stand beginning on Jan. 14 with Southeast Missouri, Eastern Illinois and SIU Edwardsville.. Jacksonville State and Tennessee Tech provide the opposition on Feb. 4 and Feb. 6 at Johnson Arena, and the always-electrifying matchup with Eastern Kentucky is scheduled at home for Jan. 17. The Eagles conclude the regular season at home as well with the second games against Murray State and UT Martin on Feb. 25 and 27.
MSU will once again be participating in the ESPNU Bracket Buster Saturday event, and this year's games fall on Feb. 20. MSU will be on the road for the vent and then receive a return game next year from this year's opponent.
For ticket information, call 783-2386.
