Wichita State opens MVC against Drake, ends at home with Illinois State (+video)
Wichita State’s quest for its unprecedented third consecutive Missouri Valley Conference men’s basketball title starts with road trips and ends at Koch Arena.
The Shockers open the Valley schedule, released Tuesday, on Dec. 31 vs. Drake at Koch Arena before playing three of the next four games on the road. Those opponents — Bradley, Southern Illinois, Missouri State — are not expected to contend for the top of the conference standings.
WSU’s first test against an team expected to finish in the upper division is Jan. 6 against Evansville, which won the CollegeInsider.com Tournament and returns five starters.
The Shockers finish February with three of their final five games at Koch Arena, including the regular-season finale against Illinois State on Feb. 27. History-making guards Ron Baker and Fred VanVleet will make their final home appearances in a game expected to match two of the MVC’s top teams with ESPN’s cameras on hand.
WSU plays at Northern Iowa, last season’s MVC runner-up, on Jan. 20 and plays host to the Panthers on Feb. 18. UNI is the only MVC team to beat WSU in a regular-season game the past two seasons. The Shockers are 35-1 in MVC regular-season games in that span.
The Shockers play back-to-back road games twice — at SIU and Missouri State in early January and at Indiana State and Loyola in late February.
WSU won back-to-back MVC titles in 1964 and 1965 and 2014 and 2015. SIU is the last team to win three in a row, part of its streak of four straight from 2002-05.
The Shockers play NCAA Division II Hawaii Pacific on Nov. 7. They open the regular season on Nov. 13 against Charleston Southern at Koch Arena.
Times for many games are undetermined. Most will be set when television networks select games.
Reach Paul Suellentrop at 316-269-6760 or psuellentrop@wichitaeagle.com. Follow him on Twitter: @paulsuellentrop.
WICHITA STATE SCHEDULE
Saturday, Nov. 7 — Hawaii Pacific (exhibition)
Friday, Nov. 13 — Charleston Southern
Tuesday, Nov. 17 — at Tulsa, 7 p.m. (Cox Kansas)
Saturday, Nov. 21 — Emporia State
Advocare Classic, Orlando, Fla.
Thursday, Nov. 26 — Southern Cal, 1 p.m. (ESPN2)
Friday, Nov. 27 — Alabama/Xavier, 11 a.m./1:30 p.m.
Sunday, Nov. 29 — TBA
Saturday, Dec. 5 — at Saint Louis, 8 p.m. (ESPNU)
Wednesday, Dec. 9 — UNLV, 8 p.m. (ESPN2)
Saturday, Dec. 12 — Utah at Intrust Bank Arena, 2:30 p.m. (ESPN2)
Saturday, Dec. 19 — at Seton Hall, 11 a.m.
Tuesday, Dec. 22 — Nevada
Monday, Dec. 28 — New Mexico State
Thursday, Dec. 31 — Drake
Sunday, Jan. 3 — at Bradley
Wednesday, Jan. 6 — Evansville
Saturday, Jan. 9 — at Southern Illinois
Wednesday, Jan. 13 — at Missouri State
Sunday, Jan. 17 — Indiana State
Wednesday, Jan. 20 — at Northern Iowa
Saturday, Jan. 23 — Bradley
Wednesday, Jan. 27 — Loyola
Sunday, Jan. 31 — at Evansville
Wednesday, Feb. 3 — Southern Illinois
Saturday, Feb. 6 — at Illinois State
Tuesday, Feb. 9 — at Drake
Saturday, Feb. 13 — Northern Iowa
Thursday, Feb. 18 — Missouri State
Sunday, Feb. 21 — at Indiana State
Wednesday, Feb. 24 — at Loyola
Saturday, Feb. 27 — Illinois State
March 3-6 — MVC Tournament, St. Louis
Times and TV to be announced
Three points on the schedule
1. Intrust Bank Arena gets the best matchup of its six-season run as WSU’s home-away-from-home. Utah, likely to be ranked in the top 15, visits on Dec. 12. The Shockers are 5-0 in the downtown arena and should attract a second consecutive sellout of 15,004 fans.
2. The Shockers are set up for a cruise early in the MVC portion of the schedule. They don’t face a team that finished above .500 in the MVC last season until Jan. 17 against Indiana State at Koch Arena.
2. The toughest MVC portion appears to start in late January, when WSU plays at Evansville (Jan. 31) and soon after travels to Illinois State (Feb. 6) and Drake (Feb. 9). The two-week stretch ends with a home game against Northern Iowa (Feb. 13). If anybody is going to push the Shockers, that is the time to make a move.
Paul Suellentrop
This story was originally published September 8, 2015 at 11:59 AM with the headline "Wichita State opens MVC against Drake, ends at home with Illinois State (+video)."