By WJBC Staff
NORMAL – Illinois State head men’s basketball coach Dan Muller has released his program’s 2018-19 non-conference schedule, which includes a daunting home schedule that features 2018 postseason opponents San Diego State, BYU, and Florida Gulf Coast.
“I started putting this schedule together over a year ago,” said Muller. “I made last year’s schedule more difficult than I figured my team would be able to handle. It helped us grow. I put it together because I knew we’d have a lot of really good teams coming back home, in a year that I feel we should be really good.”
The schedule features 7-of-10 known Division I opponents that won at least 18 games last season, with five of those schools (Florida Gulf Coast, Belmont, BYU, San Diego State, and Cleveland State) playing in their conference tournament title game, while four (FGCU, BYU, San Diego State, and UIC) played in the postseason and a fifth (Belmont) turning down an opportunity to participate in a postseason tournament.
“We schedule aggressively every year,” said Muller. “This schedule in particular was two years in the making. I believe that our team will have a chance at an at-large bid with this schedule. You have to win the right number of games, as you do every year, but it will challenge us. It will prepare us for the conference race – the MVC is going to be really good this year. I’m excited, and most excited about our home schedule, which was part of the two-year plan, starting series on the road at BYU and Ole Miss and getting the Cayman Islands scheduled. I’m excited about the challenges and opportunities for this group of guys that we are coaching, and I know they are excited also.”
The season opens at home on Nov. 6 against Florida Gulf Coast, who went 23-12 last season and played in the 2018 NIT, before the squad travels south to face off against perennial Ohio Valley Conference power Belmont – which went 24-9 last season – on Nov. 10.
A mid-week home game on Nov. 13 against Chicago State sets up a three-game tournament – the Cayman Islands Classic – where the Redbirds will face the SEC’s Georgia in the opening round on Monday, Nov. 19, either Clemson or Akron in the second round on Tuesday, Nov. 20, and Creighton, Boise State, St. Bonaventure, or Georgia State in the final contest on Wednesday, Nov. 21.
After returning from the Caribbean, the Redbirds do not leave the state of Illinois for nearly a month, opening with Lindenwood on Saturday, Nov. 24.
On Wednesday, Nov. 28, Illinois State hosts BYU on Doug Collins Court at Redbird Arena. Last season the Cougars fell to Gonzaga in the championship game of the West Coast Conference Tournament before earning a berth into the NIT and a 24-11 overall record.
Three days later ISU kicks off the month of December by hosting reigning Mountain West Conference Tournament champion San Diego State on Saturday, Dec. 1. Last season SDSU – which finished the season with a 22-11 record after falling to Houston in the NCAA First Round – swept through the MWC Tournament, including a blowout win over eventual NCAA Sweet 16 qualifier Nevada in the semifinals. Wednesday, Dec. 5, the squad travels north to Chicago to face off against UIC, a team that advanced to the championship game of the CIT a season ago en route to a 20-16 overall record.
On Saturday, Dec. 8, Illinois State will host Ole Miss, the return game of a two-year home-and-home that was set up because of the infamous Muller tweet, and as such will be the program’s “Social Media Night”.
The final non-conference home game follows eight days later, after the ISU’s finals week, when the Redbirds host Cleveland State on Sunday, Dec. 16. The squad turns around and closes the non-conference season on Friday, Dec. 21 as Illinois State will look to get revenge from a 2016 NIT home loss to UCF, facing off against the Knights in Orlando.
