May 13, 2010
LAS VEGAS - UNLV Athletics has officially announced opponents for its 2010-11 men's basketball regular season schedule as well as dates for its non-conference games.
Key facts about the schedule include:
- It features 10 guaranteed matchups against teams that played in the 2010 NCAA Tournament, including four in the non-conference portion of the schedule (Wisconsin, Louisville, UC Santa Barbara and Kansas State). From 2006-07 to 2009-10, UNLV's non-conference schedule each year featured three teams that played in the previous year's NCAA Tournament.
- The schedule guarantees UNLV 12 games this season against teams that were in the Top 100 RPI for the 2009-10 season - Wisconsin, Illinois State, Nevada, Reno, Louisville, UC Santa Barbara, Kansas State, BYU (twice), New Mexico (twice) and San Diego State (twice).
- Both of the above numbers have a chance to increase depending on UNLV's opponents during the 76 Classic tournament in Anaheim, Calif., over Thanksgiving weekend.
"Our schedule will be a challenging one for this group," said UNLV head coach Lon Kruger, whose team went 25-9 in 2009-10 and is returning seven of its top eight scorers. "It is well balanced and will help us prepare for Mountain West Conference play."
The Runnin' Rebels, who in March reached the NCAA Tournament for the third time in the last four seasons, will host fellow NCAA Tournament teams Wisconsin and defending Big West champion UC Santa Barbara at the Thomas & Mack Center.
Wisconsin will play UNLV for the first time since the Runnin' Rebels topped the Badgers in the 2007 NCAA Tournament in Chicago to earn a trip to the Sweet 16. The game is an early-season clash of upper tier programs as Wisconsin will visit the Thomas & Mack Center on Saturday, Nov. 20. Last season, Wisconsin finished 24-9 with an RPI of No. 21.
UNLV will also travel to Louisville and will play Kansas State in Kansas City, Mo. Both Louisville and Kansas State, which is coming off an Elite Eight appearance, also appeared in the 2010 NCAA Tournament.
In fact, the Runnin' Rebels will face three of the 2010 NCAA Tournament teams on their schedule within a challenging four-game, 11-day stretch Dec. 11-21. UNLV will face the Cardinals (20-13 a season ago) in the brand-new KFC Yum! Center in downtown Louisville on Saturday, Dec. 11. UNLV has beaten Louisville each of the past two seasons, including at Freedom Hall on New Year's Eve 2008.
UNLV will then return home on Wednesday, Dec. 15, to take on UC Santa Barbara, which finished 20-10 last season winning both the Big West regular-season title as well as the conference tournament before falling to Ohio State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The Gauchos' top two scorers and rebounders (Orlando Johnson and James Nunnally) will both return this season as juniors. Johnson is the reigning Big West Conference Player of the Year. The Gauchos, who posted an RPI of No. 97 last year, beat UNLV at the Thomas & Mack Center in November 2006 and also in Santa Barbara, Calif., in November 2007.
After playing Southern Utah at home on Saturday, Dec. 18, UNLV will travel to Kansas City's Sprint Center to face Kansas State (29-8 last season with an RPI of No. 5) on Tuesday, Dec. 21, in a rematch of the Wildcats' 95-80 defeat of the Runnin' Rebels in Las Vegas at The Orleans Arena last December.
Prior to that four-game stretch, UNLV will travel to Illinois State on Wednesday, Dec. 1, for the annual Mountain West-Missouri Valley Challenge game to take on the Redbirds, who won 22 games last season and finished with an RPI of No. 76. Four days later (Saturday, Dec. 4), UNLV will play Nevada, Reno in Reno, for its annual matchup with the Wolf Pack. UNR finished 21-13 last season and posted an RPI of No. 62.
The month of December will feature four games away from Las Vegas, all against teams with a Top 100 RPI last season.
In addition to the guaranteed games, UNLV will play three more games competing in the 76 Classic in Anaheim, Calif., from Nov. 25-28 (Thanksgiving weekend). The other teams competing in the tournament, which is scheduled to be televised on the ESPN family of networks, include: Oklahoma State, Murray State, Virginia Tech, Stanford, Tulsa, DePaul and Cal State Northridge. Oklahoma State (No. 39 RPI) and Murray State (No. 51 RPI) were NCAA Tournament qualifiers last season while Virginia Tech (No. 58 RPI) won 25 games.
After playing host for two exhibition games, Grand Canyon on Tuesday, Nov. 2, and Washburn on Tuesday, Nov. 9, UNLV will open the season on Opening Night at the Thomas & Mack Center against UC Riverside on Friday, Nov. 12. The Runnin' Rebels will then host Southeastern Louisiana on Wednesday, Nov. 17 before facing Wisconsin that Saturday, which will be UNLV's last game at the Thomas & Mack Center until Dec. 15 vs. UC Santa Barbara.
On Wednesday, Dec. 8, UNLV is scheduled to face Boise State at The Orleans Arena in Las Vegas and will close out non-conference play on Thursday, Dec. 30 at the Thomas & Mack Center vs. Central Michigan.
All game times, television appearances and dates for UNLV's conference games will be announced at a later time.
Click here for the 2010-11 Schedule
