Kent State head men's basketball coach Rob Senderoff has an exciting and challenging schedule finalized for the 2022-23 season.
The 2022-23 schedule features 10 schools that reached the post-season last season including seven of the 11 non-conference opponents. Seven teams in the non-conference won 20+ games and five reached the NCAA Tournament and collectively posted a winning percentage of .593 (272-186).
"The non-conference portion of our schedule will 100 percent have us battle tested and ready for league play when it starts in January," Senderoff said. "Whenever you get an opportunity to play five teams that went to the NCAA tournament in your non-league schedule, you know you are going to be tested. Houston and Gonzaga will both be ranked in the Top-5 in the nation pre-season, and we will be facing numerous schools that will be picked at the top of their conferences. Everyone associated with our program is excited for the challenge and I know our players can't wait to see everyone in the MAC Center on Nov. 10th."
The Golden Flashes will have 15 home contests this year including a four-game non-conference homestand in November. Team 107 gets the season started with a trip to Highland Heights, Kentucky to take on the Norse of Northern Kentucky on November 7th. This is a return game from the 2020-21 season where Kent State defeated NKU 92-73 inside the M.A.C.C.
The aforementioned homestand starts on November 10th with the Baldwin-Wallace Yellowjackets. It will be the first meeting between the northeast Ohio schools since 1963. Kent State will then play three games in five days on the home court with the Portland Pilots (November 14th), Arkansas Pine-Bluff Golden Lions (16th) and Chicago State Cougars (19th) all coming to town. It will the first game against the Pilots and Golden Lions and just the second meeting all-time against the Cougars.
Kent State will spend Thanksgiving on the road, heading to the College of Charleston on Wednesday, November 23rd before traveling to face the Houston Cougars on Saturday, November 26th. The Cougars won 30 games a season ago and reached the elite eight.
December gets started with a mid-major showdown as South Dakota State comes to the M.A.C.C. on Friday, December 2nd. The Jackrabbits went 30-5 last year, went 18-0 in the Summit League and won a game in the NCAA tournament. Three days later, the Flashes head west to Spokane to face the Gonzaga Bulldogs. The Bulldogs are coming off a 28-win season and a sweet 16 appearance.
The final stretch of the non-conference schedule rekindles the local rivalry with Cleveland State with the Flashes making the short trip north on Saturday, December 10th. It will be the 55th meeting between the programs with the Flashes owning a 31-23 record all-time and have won five straight. The non-conference home schedule wraps up with the Concord (WV) Mountain Lions. It will be the second meeting between the schools, the Flashes won 89-59 at home in 2019. The non-conference schedule finishes with a return to the Sun Bowl tournament in El Paso on December 21st and 22nd. Kent State will meet another tournament team in New Mexico State in the opening round of the tournament before meeting either host UTEP or North Carolina A and T.
Marquee games in the MAC schedule include the conference home opener with Western Michigan on Tuesday, January 3rd. The Flashes also host Toledo (Tuesday, January 10th), Buffalo (Saturday, January 28th), Eastern Michigan (Saturday, February 18th), Ohio (Tuesday, February 28th) before the season-finale and wagon wheel showdown on Friday, March 3rd.
The top eight teams in the conference standings will compete in the 2023 MAC Men's Basketball Tournament at Cleveland's Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse from March 9-11.
