West Virginia University Director of Athletics Shane Lyons has announced the 2017-18 men’s basketball non-conference schedule.

 

The Mountaineers will play 13 non-conference contests, including eight games in Morgantown.

           

WVU will open the regular season on Friday, Nov. 10 in Ramstein-Miesenbach, Germany, against Texas A&M in the Armed Forces Classic, marking the first college basketball game of the 2017-18 season. The Mountaineers will open their season at home on Wednesday, Nov. 15 against American. Morgan State, Long Beach State, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Virginia, Coppin State, Fordham and Kentucky (Big 12/SEC Challenge) will visit Morgantown during the 2017-18 season.

           

Kentucky will make just its third visit to Morgantown and first since 1970, while Virginia will make its first visit to the WVU Coliseum since 1985. Long Beach State and NJIT will make their first appearances in Morgantown, while Fordham will play in Morgantown for the first time since 1949.

           

The Backyard Brawl returns for the first time since the 2012 season when the Mountaineers travel to Pitt on Saturday, Dec. 9. WVU and Pitt will play a non-conference game for the first time since 1994.

           

WVU will play three games in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, over Thanksgiving in the AdvoCare Invitational. The bracket has not been finalized but the field consists of WVU, Missouri, Nebraska, Oregon State, St. John’s, UCF, Marist and Long Beach State.

           

“This is a schedule that features many highlights: opening the college basketball season in Germany; playing in one of the premier tournaments in the East over Thanksgiving in Florida; having Virginia comes to Morgantown for the first time since 1985; renewing the Backyard Brawl and seeing Kentucky come to Morgantown for just the third time in history in late January to highlight the Big 12/SEC Challenge,” coach Bob Huggins said. “We set an attendance record at home last season and there is no reason why we can’t break it again this season. This non-conference schedule will go down as one of the most exciting, if not one of the toughest, in school history. We are excited about this schedule as it certainly will showcase our basketball program, our University and the great state of West Virginia.”

           

The Big 12 portion of the schedule will be announced later this summer.