UD Men's Basketball Announces 2019-20 Schedule
IRVING, Texas – The University of Dallas men's basketball team announced its schedule for the 2019-20 season. Led by the program's winningest coach Jarred Samples, who enters his 12th season at the helm for his alma mater; the Crusaders look to build on their impressive Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) Tournament run that led to a runner-up finish against host Texas Lutheran University in the championship.
With the addition of University of St. Thomas (TX) in the SCAC this season, the Crusaders will play 18 conference games with a pair against each of the nine foes. Dallas will open the new campaign with six straight non-conference games, two of which are at the Maher Center and included in the 12 home games on the ledger.
The lidlifter happens on November 11 versus Arlington Baptist University and then later that week versus Hendrix College on the 16th. Dallas spends the next four games on the road starting with a quick turnaround against nearby Southwestern Adventist University on Nov. 19. Following Thanksgiving, the Crusaders end the month at the Chapman/Whittier Classic.
December begins with a rematch against Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas, on the 7th. It will be a short month with only four games on the docket. UD's longest home stretch concludes the month and 2019 portion of the calendar with St. Thomas (Dec. 20) and Centenary College (Dec. 21) visiting for the first SCAC tilts. UD plays its final out of league opponent on the 29th against Eureka College.
Dallas opens 2020 in Colorado with its trip to Johnson & Wales University (CO) and Colorado College on January 3 and 4, respectively. Those games mark the lengthy stretch of 16 conference games to end the regular season.
The Crusaders host Trinity University (Jan. 10) and Schreiner University (Jan. 11) the following weekend, and then go to reigning SCAC Tournament Champion Texas Lutheran University and Southwestern University a week later. That latest road stint will pit the Crusaders against the co-regular season champions.
A home-and-home matchup with Austin College is slated next with the meeting at the Maher Center on Jan. 21 and the game at Sherman on the 24th. Dallas finishes the nine-game month at home with Johnson & Wales on the final date of Jan. UD immediately starts February with Colorado College.
The second half of league play continues with road games at Trinity (Feb. 7) and Schreiner (Feb. 8), and then the final home games will be the 14th and 15 against Texas Lutheran and Southwestern, respectively. The regular season finishes on the road a week later at St. Thomas and Centenary.
The SCAC Tournament will be in Kerrville, Texas, this winter and hosted by Schreiner on Feb. 28-March 1. The top six teams qualify, although Johnson & Wales and St. Thomas are not eligible due to transition into NCAA Division III. The Crusaders have reached the tournament the previous two seasons, with last year marking their first trip to the SCAC Championship Game as the fifth seed. They were part of the first-ever double overtime result in a league championship contest and made it that far stunning fourth-seeded Schreiner and first-seeded Southwestern.