Men’s Basketball Releases Non-Conference Schedule
September 19, 2018
The 2017-2018 season was one of the most successful in recent years for the Central Connecticut men’s basketball team, as they reached the Northeast Conference tournament for the first time since the 2013-2014 season.
Although only games strictly within the conference count towards that goal, the Blue Devils will play 13 games versus opponents outside the conference before embarking on their quest to return to the NEC tournament.
The team will only host three of the 13 non-conference matchups, with only one of them being against a fellow Division I opponent: UMass Lowell on Nov. 13. The other two games will come against Division II opponent Penn State-Wilkes Barre and Division III Pine Major.
The most notable portion of its non-conference schedule is a two-game trip to Montego Bay, Jamaica to take part in the Jersey Mike’s Jamaica Classic on Nov. 26, where they will take on Austin Peay and Florida A&M. Both games will be televised on CBS Sports Network.
The 2017-2018 season saw Central take on multiple opponents from “big five” conferences including St. John’s, DePaul, Boston College and just a four-point loss against Rutgers. One of the biggest wins in program history came when they traveled to East Carolina, of the American Athletic Conference and easily beat the Pirates by 11 points.
This year, they will travel take on four big five opponents: Georgetown (as a part of the Jamaica Classic) and Providence of the Big East, Virginia Tech of the Atlantic Coast Conference and PAC 12 school Oregon State.
Rounding out the remainder of the schedule are trips to North Carolina A&T on Nov. 29 and Maine on Dec. 22. This is a part of a home-and-home, as the Blue Devils hosted both schools last season.
Following these out of conference games, the team will begin their 18-game NEC schedule, where they will play the other nine schools twice each, once home and once away.
The Blue Devils’ regular season will begin when they travel to Hartford on Nov. 10, where they will look to avenge a one-point overtime loss in last year’s season opener.
