TERRE HAUTE, Ind.  ? Indiana State men's basketball head coach Kevin McKenna announced on Tuesday who his team will be facing off against in the upcoming 2008-09 season.  Three NCAA tournament qualifiers, including 2008 Elite Eight participant Louisville, as well as several other postseason and in-state rivals highlight the 30-game slate for the Sycamores.

The season will begin at home with exhibition games with Albion (Mich.) College and St. Joseph's (Ind.) on Nov. 8 and 14, respectively, before the Sycamores open the regular season at Northern Illinois on Nov. 18, in a return game from last season.  ISU will then play its regular-season home opener against North Texas at the Hulman Center on Nov. 23 before playing host to Murray State on Wed., Nov. 26, in a return trip from last year's ESPNU BracketBusters game.

ISU will then hit the road for a match-up at DePaul on Sat., Nov. 29, in a rematch of the 1979 NCAA Tournament semi-final game in which the Sycamores defeated the Blue Demons, 76-74, to advance to the title game against Michigan State. 

Following that contest, ISU will host Arkansas State on Mon., Dec. 1, at the Hulman Center before hitting the road to play three games in the Marques Maybin Classic in Louisville, Ky.  There, the Sycamores will face off against the host Cardinals on Sat., Dec. 6, before facing off against Lamar on Dec. 7 and wrapping up the three-game tournament with Ohio on Dec. 8. 

“The Marques Maybin Classic will be a great test for the team and will also give us some national exposure,” said McKenna.  “Louisville is always a perennial NCAA tournament contender and playing them will give our team a strong idea of where we stand early in the season.  We will also be playing Lamar and Ohio in that tournament, both of which are programs that have had a lot of success throughout the years.  So, it should be a very solid three days of competition.”

The Sycamores will then wrap up the non-conference portion of their schedule against at trio of in-state foes. Purdue will be first on Sat., Dec. 13, in West Lafayette, Ind., followed by a home contest versus DePauw on Dec. 20.  The final non-conference tilt of the season will take place at Conseco Fieldhouse on Tues., Dec. 23, against IUPUI, ending what should prove to be a challenging non-conference slate according to McKenna.

“I think we have a very competitive non-conference schedule with the likes of Louisville, Purdue and DePaul on the slate,” said McKenna.  “When you add road games at Northern Illinois and a game against IUPUI at Conseco Fieldhouse, it only strengthens that road portion of the schedule.  We will also be playing some tough home games against North Texas, Murray State and Arkansas State, not to mention a BracketBusters game at home later in the season.  Add that all together and I think we've put together a very competitive schedule to prepare us for the conference season.”

That conference season will be no slouch, as the league produced five postseason teams last year in Drake (NCAA), Creighton (NIT), Illinois State (NIT), Southern Illinois (NIT) and Bradley (CBI).  ISU will open its Missouri Valley Conference slate on the road at Northern Iowa on Sun., Dec. 28, before returning home to play four out of its next five games at home against Creighton (Dec. 31), Evansville (Jan. 4), Illinois State (Jan. 10) and Bradley (Jan. 13), with the lone road game coming against reigning MVC champion Drake in Des Moines, Iowa, on Jan. 7.  Following that stretch, the Sycamores will wrap up the season series with Evansville on the road on Sat., Jan. 17, before returning home to battle Southern Illinois on Jan. 21. 

After back-to-back road games at Bradley (Jan. 24) and Creighton (Jan. 27), ISU will wrap up the season series with UNI on Jan. 31 at the Hulman Center followed by a home game against Wichita State on Feb. 4.  From there, the Sycamores will play four of their next five Valley contests on the road, with the lone home game coming against Drake on Sat., Feb. 11.  The Sycamores will then finish the regular season with a home contest against Missouri State on Sat., Feb. 28, before heading to St. Louis to compete in the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament, March 5-8, at the Scottrade Center.

“The way I look at it, you eventually have to play those tough conference road games and you hope that in your home games prior the team can gain some confidence and compete hard,” said McKenna.  “The conference schedule is going to be tough no matter how they fall on the schedule with all of the strong teams in the Valley.  We just have to keep playing on a consistent level and things will shape up heading into tournament time in March.”