Saturday, November 9, 2024

W&M Men’s Basketball Releases 2023-24 Nonconference Schedule

(Tribe Athletics)

WILLIAMSBURG — William & Mary head men’s basketball coach Dane Fischer announced the Tribe’s 2023-24 non-conference schedule on Thursday. The 13-game slate includes five home contests, trips to regional rivals George Washington, Richmond, and Navy, and a three-game MTE at Air Force.

Season tickets for Tribe men’s basketball are now on sale at TribeAthletics.com.

In total, the Tribe will face five teams for the first time in 2023-24, including a trip to the West Coast to face Pepperdine. As part of its five-game home schedule, W&M hosts in-state rival and former league counterpart Old Dominion on Dec. 6.

W&M plays its first two games of the season inside Kaplan Arena. As part of a basketball doubleheader with a women’s program on Monday, Nov. 6, the Tribe hosts a local foe in Regent University at 7:30 p.m. The Royals are a National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) program based in Virginia Beach.

The Tribe wraps up its season-opening homestand with former CAA foe American on Thursday, Nov. 9. It marks the fourth time the teams have played in the last five seasons. The Eagles won 17 games a season ago, including two in the postseason to advance to the Patriot League semifinals. Former Tribe assistant Nate Bollinger is on staff at American, and first-year Eagles head coach Duane Simpkins was on the same coaching staff with Fischer at George Mason.

W&M travels to Washington, D.C., for the second time in the last four years and takes on its first of two Atlantic 10 teams in George Washington on Saturday, Nov. 11. The Tribe downed the Colonials in D.C., 85-84, in overtime during the teams’ last meeting on Dec. 14, 2020. Last season, the Patriots went 10-8 in the A-10.

The Tribe travels to the state of Colorado for the first time to take part in a multi-team event (MTE) at Air Force, Nov. 16-19. Along with the host Falcons, W&M takes on Ohio Valley foe Lindenwood on Thursday, Nov. 16, and Summit League opponent Omaha on Sunday, Nov. 19. The Tribe takes on Air Force on Friday, Nov. 17.

Following Thanksgiving, W&M wraps up its home-and-home series with UMBC on Saturday, Nov. 25. The Retrievers topped the Tribe in Baltimore last season on the way to 18 wins during the regular season.

The Tribe wraps up the month of November and begins the month of December with road trips in the state of Virginia. W&M travels to Norfolk State on Tuesday, Nov. 28, before heading to Richmond on Saturday, Dec. 2. The Spartans won 22 games last season and advanced to the championship of the MEAC Tournament.  W&M and UR renewed its rivalry last season with the Tribe topping the Spiders, 58-57, in Kaplan Arena.

W&M returns home for a pair of games, hosting Old Dominion on Wednesday, Dec. 6, and Virginia University of Lynchburg on Sunday, Dec. 10. It marks the 51st-straight season in which the Tribe and Monarchs have squared off. While ODU leads the all-time series, W&M has won seven of the last 12 meetings. The Tribe and Virginia University of Lynchburg, another NCCAA program, meet for the first time.

The Tribe wraps up its non-conference slate with road trips to Pepperdine (Dec. 21) and Navy (Dec. 30). It marks the first time W&M has traveled to a West Coast Conference opponent when it heads to Malibu to take on the Waves. The Tribe previously played WCC programs Portland (in 1991) and Santa Clara (in 1998), but those games were in Hawaii at the Kauai Classic and at the Stanford Invitational, respectively.

W&M and Navy meet for the third straight season. The Tribe and Midshipmen are former CAA rivals and founding members of the league.

(Tribe Athletics)

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