The full schedule for the Miami basketball program was released on Thursday morning. It was previously announced that the Hurricanes are playing Rutgers in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge and are participating in the Wooden Classic in Fullerton, California Thanksgiving Weekend.
The Miami basketball schedule begins with an exhibition game on October 30 against Barry University at the Watsco Center. They continue their four-game homestand to begin the season with their first regular season game of 2018-19 against Lehigh Friday, November 9.
The Miami basketball team will conclude the homestand with games against Stephen F. Austin and Bethune-Cookman November 13 and 17 before they head to Fullerton for the Wooden Classic.
The Hurricanes opening game at Titan Gym on the Campus of Cal-State Fullerton is November 22 against LaSalle. This will be the fifth time in the last seven seasons that the Hurricanes and Explorers will play each other. The Hurricanes have won the last four, but LaSalle holds a nine games to eight advantage overall.
The Hurricanes second game in Fullerton will be against either Northwestern or Fresno State on November 23. The Wooden Classic will take a day off on Saturday, November 24.
The Hurricanes will conclude their stay in the shadow of Disneyland by playing a team from the other half of the Wooden Classic Bracket on November 25. That will be either Grand Canyon, Hawai’i, Seton Hall or Utah,
The Hurricanes return home and host Rutgers on November 28. That is followed by what’s technically a neutral site game at American Airlines Arena against Yale in the Hoophall Classic on December 1.
The Hurricanes then go back on the road to play at one of College Basketball’s most venerable arenas. The Miami basketball team will travel to Philadelphia to play Pennsylvania at the Palestra on December 4.
The Hurricanes non-conference schedule will conclude how it began. Miami’s last three games out of conference are at home against Houston Baptist December 19, Florida Atlantic on the 22 and Campbell the 29.
The schedule is more advantageous to the Hurricanes during the 2018-19 season. The Miami basketball team went over a month without a home game last season during most of December and the first week of January.
By playing in a tournament over Thanksgiving instead of Christmas, the Hurricanes were able to schedule home games in late December. The ACC basketball schedule has not been released yet. We do know Miami’s opponents home and road for the 2018-19 season.
Home/Road: Florida State, North Carolina, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest
Home: Clemson, Georgia Tech, NC State, Notre Dame, Pitt
Road: Boston College, Duke, Louisville, Syracuse, Virginia
Other than the Wooden Classic the non-conference schedule is mostly disappointing. If the Hurricanes are truly serious about making their basketball program elite they should have at least one game per season against a marquee program that they play outside of a tournament.
While the Miami basketball program has a long way to go to reach the level of Duke or North Carolina, look at their non-conference schedules. They are not hesitant to challenge themselves before the calendar flips to January.