Men’s Basketball Releases 2022-23 Schedule
9/7/2022 9:30:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Games against five postseason teams and a trip to Montreal, Canada for the 2022 Northern Classic highlight a challenging non-conference schedule.
BOZEMAN, Mont. – Five home games, tilts against five postseason teams and three games in the 2022 Northern Classic, held in Montreal, Canada highlight the Montana State University men's basketball schedule, as announced by head coach Danny Sprinkle on Wednesday.
The defending outright Big Sky Conference champions will play a road-heavy slate, including games at Pac-12 opponents Arizona and Oregon. Yet, their home schedule includes an exhibition game against Montana State University Billings on Oct. 30, plus games against Warner Pacific (11/18), St. Thomas (12/8), Nebraska Omaha (12/10) and Northwest Indian College (12/17).
"I think playing on the road will develop a lot of toughness for our team, which I like," Sprinkle said. "We'll have to be road warriors again this year."
The season-opening exhibition against MSUB will be a Bobcat reunion of sorts. The Yellowjackets are coached by 2006 Montana State Hall of Fame inductee Mick Durham, who coached Sprinkle on the 1996 NCAA Tournament team. Durham's assistant, Luke Fennelly, served in a myriad of roles on the Montana State men's basketball coaching staff for seven seasons prior to becoming MSUB's assistant coach in 2020-21.
"It was important for me to get Mick Durham back to Bozeman," Sprinkle said. "He's such an integral part of this program and he's a big part of me being at Montana State. I wouldn't be here without him. It's important to me to get a great crowd that night. It'll be fun to have him and Luke Fennelly, who was one of my assistants and is a diehard Bobcat, back here."
To officially open the 2022-23 campaign, the Bobcats will play at Grand Canyon University on Nov. 7 at 7 p.m. The Lopes went 23-8 last season in head coach Bryce Drew's second season in Glendale, yet fell to eventual Western Athletic Conference champion New Mexico State in the conference tournament semifinals. This will be the second trip to GCU in the Danny Sprinkle era.
"Not only is GCU a talented team that will be picked towards the top of the WAC, but it also has such a home-court advantage," Sprinkle said. "That place is a rave. Their arena holds six or seven thousand people, but the fans really get after it. I want our guys to go through experiences like that so that they're ready for league play or to play at places like Oregon and Arizona."
The road swing continues at Long Beach State on Sunday, Nov. 13 at 8 p.m. MT. Last season, the Beach won the Big West regular-season title, fell to Cal State Fullerton in the Big Sky title game and competed in the National Invitational Tournament.
"Long Beach State has been good ever since Dan Monson got there," Sprinkle said. "They will probably be picked in the top three of the Big West — if not the top of the Big West — and their league is very comparable to ours. Long Beach State is athletic and had a tremendous season last year, but many of those players are coming back. It'll be a test."
From there, the Bobcats will travel to Oregon for the first time since 2009 on Nov. 15. The Ducks are coming off a 20-win campaign in which they finished fifth in the Pac-12 conference standings and reached the second round of the NIT.
After its three-game road trip, MSU returns home to host Warner Pacific University — an NAIA school out of the Cascade Collegiate Conference — on Nov. 18. The Bobcats then head east to face former Big Sky foe North Dakota on Nov. 20 at 1 p.m. local time. The teams last meet in Worthington Arena during the 2018-19 season, but the Bobcats haven't traveled to Grand Forks, N.D. since the Fighting Hawks' final Big Sky season in 2017-18.
Competing in a field of marquee, mid-major schools, the Bobcats will travel to Montreal, Canada for three games in the 2022 Northern Classic from Nov. 25-27. Montana State will join a field including Middle Tennessee State, UNC Greensboro and Quinnipiac. Matchups for the Northern Classic have yet to be announced.
Two of the three opponents at the Northern Classic made the Roman College Basketball Invitational last season. After being picked to finish last in the Conference USA preseason poll, Middle Tennessee State went 26-11 and reached the CBI Championship game before falling in double-overtime to UNC Wilmington. UNC Greensboro went 17-15 in 2021-22 and accepted a CBI bid, where they fell to Boston University in the first round.
Quinnipiac, MSU's third opponent in the Northern Classic, finished 14-17 last season and fell to eventual Elite Eight team Saint Peter's in the semifinals of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament.
"Those multi-team events are hard to get into," Sprinkle said. "Middle Tennessee is tremendous. They won 26 games last year and bring back a lot of guys from that team. They're going to be loaded. Quinnipiac and UNC Greensboro are really well-coached teams, so it's going to be a challenge. At least we're playing them on a neutral court, which will be fun."
Upon returning to the United States, the Bobcats will visit Southern Utah — another former Big Sky opponent. The Thunderbirds, who joined the Western Athletic Conference this summer, will return to Bozeman during the 2023-24 season as part of a home-and-home scheduling agreement. Last season, the Bobcats swept the season series with the Thunderbirds.
December boasts a three-game homestand for the Bobcats, starting with a pair of contests against Summit League opponents. St. Thomas comes to Bozeman on Dec. 8 for a rematch of last season's game, which MSU won 72-65 in St. Paul, Minn. Montana State will then host Omaha on Dec. 10. One final tune-up against Northwest Indian College on Dec. 17 wraps up the home non-conference slate.
The Bobcats finish the nonconference schedule at Arizona, which is tentatively scheduled for Dec. 20 or Dec. 21. A finalized date will be updated to the Montana State website once the game has been set. The matchup against the defending Pac-12 champions will be not only the first time the Bobcats have played Arizona since Dec. 28, 1981, but also the first time MSU has ever played the Wildcats in McKale Center.
From there, MSU will play a full,18-game conference schedule, in which it plays each team in the conference twice. The conference home opener will be against Idaho on Dec. 29, followed by a New Year's Eve tilt against Eastern Washington on Dec. 31. The Bobcats' first Big Sky road trip of the season will be to Northern Colorado on Jan. 5, 2023, then to Northern Arizona on Jan. 7.
A two-game homestand against Idaho State (1/12) and Weber State (1/14) gives way to a four-game road trip in late January. Playing on a quick turnaround, Montana State will travel to Moscow on Monday, Jan. 16 before getting a five-day break for a trip to Missoula to take on the University of Montana. Two more games at Portland State (1/26) and Sacramento State (Jan. 28) wrap up the road trip.
February begins with home games against Northern Arizona (2/2) and Northern Colorado (2/4), then the Bobcats take one last two-game road trip to Weber State (2/9) and Idaho State (2/11) the following week. A rematch with Montana on Feb. 18 kicks off a favorable, late three-game homestand for the Bobcats. Sacramento State comes to Bozeman on Feb. 23, then the regular-season home finale will be against Portland State on Feb. 25. Montana State concludes Big Sky Conference play at Eastern Washington two days later on Monday, Feb. 27.
The conference schedule culminates to the Big Sky Championships, which will once again take place at the Idaho Central Arena in Boise, Idaho from Saturday, March 4 to Wednesday, March 8. All Big Sky Championship games will be broadcasted on ESPN+ and the title game will be televised on the ESPN family of networks.
Single-game tickets for all home games can be purchased at msubobcats.com/tickets. All future schedule updates, including broadcast information, livestream links and tip-off times, can be found on the men's basketball schedule page on msubobcats.com.
