BYU basketball's first season under Kevin Young has a start date

PROVO — BYU basketball's first season under head coach Kevin Young has a start date.

The Cougars will play seven nonconference games at the Marriott Center, a trio of neutral-site contests, and a road tilt at Providence as part of the Big 12-Big East Challenge, as announced Monday morning by the university.

After an Oct. 30 exhibition game against Division II Colorado Christian, the team that returns three starters from last year's NCAA Tournament team will open the season Nov. 5 against Central Arkansas in the first meeting between the two schools.

That will be the first of five consecutive games in the Marriott Center, including the return of former director of basketball operations Bobby Horodyski to Provo with Queens University (North Carolina) on Nov. 13 — a day after the Royals visit the University of Utah.

BYU will then travel to San Diego as part of the Rady Children's Invitational Nov. 28-29 at LionTree Arena on the UC San Diego campus, where it will face two of the three of NC State, Purdue and Ole Miss. The full bracket of the invitational will be released at a later date.

The Cougars' first road trip will take them across the country for a Dec. 3 tilt against Providence as part of the Big 12-Big East Challenge. It will be the third all-time meeting between BYU and the Friars, a series BYU leads 2-0.

BYU will host a pair of Mountain West foes beginning Dec. 11 against Fresno State and Wyoming three days later at Delta Center in Salt Lake City. The Cougars will wrap up nonconference play Dec. 20 against Florida A&M.

"From what we know last year, every game is going to be a dog fight," BYU senior Trevin Knell told BYUtv. "But it's going to be super fun to be coached by (assistant coach Chris Burgess) again, and these high-level guys. Some games that pop out are going to San Diego and playing Providence. It's going to be really fun."

BYU men's basketball

Related topics