Men's Basketball | 10/4/2024 8:33:00 AM
October 4, 2024-The Emporia State 2024-25 men's basketball schedule was released today and first year coach
Tom Billeter will not get much time to ease into it. Four of the Hornets first eight games are against teams that made the NCAA Tournament last season with three of them on the road. Emporia State will play a total of eight games against 2024 NCAA Tournament teams.
The Hornets will open the season with an exhibition game at Wichita State. It will be the tenth exhibition meeting with the Shockers for Emporia State. The last time the two met was during the 2020-21 COVID season in a regular season game for Wichita State that counted as an exhibition for the Hornets.
Emporia State will start the season for real at the Hillyard Tip-off Classic in St. Joseph, Mo. The Hornets will play Wayne State (Neb.) on Friday, November 8 and then take on Northern State on Sunday, November 10 at Looney Fieldhouse on the campus of Missouri Western.
The Hornets will stay on the road as they travel to Kirksville, Mo. on November 13 as they hit the road to former MIAA member Truman State.
The first of three straight games against NCAA Tournament teams will be on November 19 at William Jewell in Liberty, Mo. After the game the Hornets will take off for Grand Junction, Colo. for two more games against tourney teams from last year. Emporia State will play a neutral site game against Fort Lewis on Friday, November 22 and host school Colorado-Mesa on Saturday, November 23.
The Hornets will make their home debut on Sunday, December 1 against Peru State before opening begin MIAA play on Thursday, December 5 against 11-time defending MIAA regular season champion Northwest Missouri in White Auditorium. After the two home games, the Hornets will get back on the road as they return to St. Jospeh, Mo. for the MIA road opener against Missouri Western on Saturday, December 7.
Emporia State will wrap up the non-conference part of the schedule with a pair of home games before the NCAA Division II Life in the Balance break. The Hornets will play Sterling on December 17 and Rockhurst on December 20 to start a four game home stand.
The new year will start with two MIAA games in White Auditorium. The Hornets will play host to Central Missouri on January 2 before welcoming Washburn into White Auditorium for the Turnpike Tussle on January 4.
A quirk in the schedule due to conflict at White Auditorium will see the Emporia State travel to Fort Hays State on January 9 before returning to Slaymaker Court on January 11 to take on Neb.-Kearney.
The Hornets and Ichabods will then meet for the second time in 11 days when Emporia State travels to Topeka on January 15. The rematch with Central Missouri then takes place on January 18.
The road trip is followed by a four game home stand against the conferences southern tier of schools. The Hornets play host to Northeastern State on January 23 before welcoming Ark.-Fort Smith to White Auditorium on Sunday, January 26 for the first time. Rogers State comes to Emporia on January 30 with a contest against Central Oklahoma wrapping up the home stand on Sunday, February 2. The Ark.-Fort Smith and Central Oklahoma games are being played on Sundays due to the Flint Hills League and Lyon County League High School Tournaments in White Auditorium.
The Hornets will hit the road for games at Pittsburg State on February 6 and at Missouri Southern on February 8 before returning home for a game against Fort Hays State on February 12. Emporia State will then travel to Neb.-Kearney on Saturday, February 15 due to the Emporia Arts Council's presentation of Iconic, a Michael Jackson tribute show playing in White Auditorium.
Emporia State will travel down the turnpike to Wichita to take on Newman on February 22 before returning to White Auditorium on February 26 for their final home game of the regular season against Missouri Western. Thanks to another quirk of the MIAA schedule, the Hornets will travel to Northwest Missouri two days later for the final game of the regular season on March 1 as they open and close the conference slate with the Bearcats.
The MIAA Tournament is scheduled for March 5-9 at Municipal Auditorium in downtown Kansas City, Mo. The NCAA Regional tournaments will be the next weekend on campus sites followed by the Elite Eight at the Ford Center in Evansville, Ind. from March 25-29.
The Hornets are in their first year under Coach Billeter who comes to Emporia State after 21 seasons as the head coach at NCAA Division II Augustana. A two-time national coach of the year, he went 393-224 in 21 seasons with the Vikings and is 490-274 in 26 seasons as a head coach. He took the Vikings to nine NCAA Tournaments highlighted by the 2016 NCAA Division II National Championship, won three regular season NSIC Championships and two NSIC Tournament Championships and 18 consecutive winnings seasons since 2007.
He has brought in 11 new players, seven transfers and four freshmen, to join the five returners from last year's squad that went 19-12. Emporia State has averaged 20.3 wins per game over the past three seasons.
