CHICAGO, Ill. – After making a trip to the United States Collegiate Athletic Association Championship game last season, the Illinois Tech men's basketball team is excited to release its 2017-18 schedule. It features 13 home games, a tournament at North Park University, and many contests against local NCAA Division III competition.
"I think we have put together a very competitive schedule," said Head Coach Todd Kelly, who is heading into his fourth season and increased the team's win total by 18 games last year. "This season, we are playing teams from some of the best conferences in the country, such as the CCIW, UAA and WIAC. This schedule will be very challenging and hopefully prepare us for postseason success."
One of Tech's best wins last year was a victory over then ninth-ranked North Park, whom the Scarlet Hawks will get a chance to play once again this season at NPU's season-opening tournament. Tech will take on Gustavus Adolphus College on Friday, November 17 before opposing North Park the next day at 7:00 p.m.
Tech will then close out the month of November with four road contests. The Scarlet Hawks will look to extend its winning streaks over Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (November 21) and Kalamazoo College (November 25) before opposing new opponents in Olivet College (at Kalmazoo, November 26) and UW-Platteville (November 29).
After opening December with a road match at Albion College on December 2, Tech will have its home opener on Sunday, December 10 against the University of Chicago at 3:00 p.m. It will be a revenge game for the Scarlet Hawks, who have yet to defeat the Maroons in the Todd Kelly era.
The Scarlet Hawks will play a road contest at Cornell College (December 13) before opening up a seven-game homestand. Over the holiday season, Tech will host Fontbonne University (December 18), Knox College (December 29), Trine University (December 31), Wabash College (January 3), Carthage College (January 6), RMU-Springfield (January 13), and Roosevelt University (January 17).
After a road game against another tough regional opponent, Wheaton College (January 20), Tech will host Maranatha Baptist University (January 25), Moody Bible Institute (January 27), and Dominican University (January 31) to close out the month.
Tech will have five contests in the month of February to potentially prepare the team for the USCAA Championships: at Maranatha (February 1), home against RMU-Chicago (February 7), at Moody Bible (February 10), and Milwaukee School of Engineering (February 14), and home against East-West University (February 20).
This year's USCAA Championships are set to begin on February 27 and run through March 3 at PSU-Fayette in Uniontown, Pennsylvania.
All 2017-18 home contests will have live audio, video, and statistics. The live audio will be powered by Illinois Media School.