WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - William and Mary head men's basketball coach
Tony Shaver announced the Tribe's 2014-15 schedule today in conjunction with the Colonial Athletic Association releasing the league slate. Highlighting the Tribe's ledger are three of the CAA's 10 national TV games on the NBC Sports Network, including two at Kaplan Arena. In total, the Green and Gold's ledger includes 11 games against team who competed in the 2014 postseason, including five contests against NCAA Tournament teams.
For the first time, every conference game will be televised through partnerships with NBCSN, Comcast SportsNet and the American Sports Network, as well as CAA.TV, the conference's new digital network. NBCSN will provide national television coverage of CAA basketball for the third consecutive year. The network, which is available in more than 85 million homes, will air seven regular-season contests along with the semifinals and finals of the CAA Men's Basketball Championship. All NBCSN games are also available online through NBC LiveExtra.
The Tribe's current 10-game non-conference schedule kicks off against 2014 Final Four participant Florida in Gainesville on Friday, Nov. 14. It marks the second straight season in which the Tribe has faced a Final Four team from the previous campaign and will be W&M's 21st game against a Southeastern Conference opponent. The game will be televised on the SEC Network.
W&M's first non-conference home game will be on Tuesday, Nov. 18, against Howard. It marks the fifth straight season in which the Tribe and Bison have squared off with the Green and Gold holding a 3-1 advantage in the series, including a victory last season in Washington, D.C.
For the first time since the 1971-72 season, the Tribe will travel to Houston, Texas to face the Rice Owls on Saturday, Nov. 22. It will be one of two non-conference games for the Tribe against Conference USA counterparts with both coming on the road.
W&M will play a pair of home games in return contests from the 2013-14 season around the Thanksgiving holiday. The Tribe welcomes Western Illinois to Kaplan Arena on Tuesday, Nov. 25, at 7 p.m., before hosting reigning Southern Conference Champion Wofford on Saturday, Nov. 29, at 4:30 p.m., as part of a men's and women's doubleheader.
Prior to the final exam break, the Green and Gold will hit the road for a pair of contests. The Tribe treks up Interstate 64 to face long-time rival Richmond in the 200th meeting between the programs on Wednesday, Dec. 3, before heading to High Point on Saturday, Dec. 6 for a 5 p.m. tip-off. Last season, HPU advanced to the NIT after winning the Big South regular season crown. It will mark the third straight season the two teams have met.
Coming out of the exam break, the Tribe will have a pair of games before the Christmas holiday. On Friday, Dec. 19, W&M will host Division III foe Washington (Md.) College at 7 p.m. The Tribe's final game before Christmas will be a road affair at Old Dominion on Monday, Dec. 22. The Green and Gold has won three straight games in the series and the programs have met each of the last 42 seasons.
The Tribe's final non-conference tilt comes at ACC foe North Carolina on Tuesday, Dec. 30. It will be W&M's first trip to UNC since the 2010-11 season. The Tribe also traveled to Chapel Hill for the 2010 NIT. Last season, the Tar Heels won 24 games and advanced to the Third Round of the NCAA Tournament.
W&M kicks off the 18-game CAA portion of the schedule at home on Saturday, Jan. 3, when it hosts College of Charleston. The Green and Gold won two of the three meetings between the programs last season.
The CAA slate will be a true round-robin with home and away game with each league team. Following the opener with Charleston, W&M travels to Drexel on Monday, Jan. 5, followed by the first trip to Elon, as a member of the CAA, on Thursday, Jan. 8.
The Tribe returns to Kaplan Arena for home games against James Madison (Saturday, Jan. 10) and UNCW (Wednesday, Jan. 14), before hitting the road for games at Towson (Saturday, Jan. 17) and Delaware (Wednesday, Jan. 21). The Green and Gold's final two home games of January will be against Northeastern on Saturday, Jan. 24 and Hofstra on Wednesday, Jan. 28. The game with Northeastern will be broadcast on the NBC Sports Network at 2 p.m.
W&M kicks off its longest road trip of the season with three straight league away games, starting with in-state foe James Madison on Saturday, Jan. 31. Last season, the Tribe swept the regular-season meetings between the teams, including an 81-79 win in Harrisonburg. The month of February begins with two road games in three days against the two southern-most programs in the CAA. The Tribe travels to the College of Charleston on Thursday, Feb. 5, before heading to meet UNCW on Saturday, Feb. 7.
The Green and Gold will play four of its final six league games in Kaplan Arena. The Tribe hosts Elon on Wednesday, Feb. 11, and Delaware on Valentine's Day (Saturday, Feb. 14). The CAA Championship game rematch with Delaware will be televised nationally on the NBC Sports Network at 2:30 p.m.
The Tribe's final two regular-season road games will be at Northeastern on Wednesday, Feb. 18, and at Hofstra on Sunday, Feb. 22. The match-up against the Pride will be televised nationally on the NBC Sports Network at 4:30 p.m. W&M closes out the regular season with home games against Towson (Wednesday, Feb. 25) and Drexel (Saturday, Feb. 28).
All dates and times within the CAA schedule are subject to change with games added to television. One game will also be added to the Tribe's non-conference slate at a later date. The CAA will announce additional television games with partners Comcast SportsNet and the American Sports Network in conjunction with the conference's basketball media day on October 21.
The 2015 CAA Championship is slated for Friday, March 6, through Monday, March 9, at the Baltimore Arena in Baltimore, Md. NBCSN will televise both semifinal contests on Sunday, March 8 and the conference title game on Monday, March 9.
Last season, W&M won 20 games for just the seventh time in program history and advanced to the CAA Championship game for the third time in the last seven seasons. The Green and Gold will welcome back a pair of starters, including All-CAA guard
Marcus Thornton, and five players who saw significant minutes a season ago, including 2014 CAA Rookie of the Year
Omar Prewitt.
