Edinburg Daily Review

RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Department of Intercollegiate Athletics announced on Wednesday that it will open Western Athletic Conference (WAC) basketball play on Nov. 29 against Grand Canyon, with the men at home against the reigning WAC Tournament champions and the women on the road.

The women’s basketball team will host Tarleton for its WAC home opener on Dec. 2 while the men will visit Tarleton.

WAC play resumes on Jan. 4 with games on Thursdays and Saturdays and the two basketball teams playing mirror schedules, meaning that if one team is at home, the other team is on the road playing the same institution.

The WAC schedule features a double round robin format, with each team playing every WAC opponent both at home and on the road.

Season tickets, which include non-conference contests as well, can be purchased by contacting the UTRGV Athletics Ticket Office team of Eddie Galvan (956-222-2935) and Ryela Rodriguez (956-329-0884) over the phone or through email at tickets@utrgv.edu. The non-conference schedules are expected to be announced soon.

Men’s basketball hosts Stephen F. Austin on Jan. 4 while women’s basketball hosts Abilene Christian on Jan. 6. The men play four of their next five at home, sandwiching a trip to UT Arlington with home weekends against Seattle U and defending WAC Champion Utah Valley as well as Tarleton and California Baptist.

The women follow with a 3-game home stand Feb. 1-8 against Utah Tech, defending WAC and WAC Tournament Champion Southern Utah, and Stephen F. Austin.

The men host Abilene Christian and UT Arlington Feb. 15-17 before the women embark on a 4-game home stand against Utah Valley, Seattle U, Grand Canyon, and California Baptist Feb. 22-March 2.

The men play their final two home games March 7-9 against Utah Tech and Southern Utah.

“The WAC is a grind. Going to 20 games is not an easy task. My last year in the Ohio Valley Conference we did a 20-game double round robin and it’s very fatiguing. There are some breaks in our schedule, though, something we didn’t have in the OVC,” UTRGV head men’s basketball coach Matt Figger said. “We get to open at home for the first time since I’ve been here. We have one of the better teams in the league coming in in Grand Canyon. The back end of the schedule has a lot of away games, so we have to get off to a good start.”

“The conference is a little bit different this year as we’ll have a true champion by playing each team twice, once home and once away, something we haven’t been able to do in several years, but we’re excited about the opportunity,” UTRGV head women’s basketball coach Lane Lord said. “I think the WAC is as good as it’s been in the last six years. The conference is very talented from top to bottom. There’s a lot of parity with a lot of good teams. We had a lot of representation in the postseason last year and the conference is only going to continue to rise.”

The WAC sent five men’s teams and four women’s teams to the postseason last year. On the men’s side, Grand Canyon played in the NCAA Tournament, Utah Valley advanced to the NIT semifinals, Sam Houston reached the second round of the NIT, Southern Utah advanced to the CBI semifinals, and Tarleton also competed in the CBI. On the women’s side, Southern Utah competed in the NCAA Tournament, Stephen F. Austin advanced to the second round of the WNIT, and California Baptist defeated New Mexico State in the WBI Championship Game.

Complete Schedule

Home Games in Bold

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