Atlantic 10 releases 2020-21 men’s basketball conference schedule

The University of Dayton men’s basketball team will have high expectations for their now-scheduled A10 season, after finishing 18-0 in 2019-20. Photo courtesy of Keegan Gupta, Flyer News.

Peter Burtnett
Sports Editor

The University of Dayton men’s basketball team will play in 18 Atlantic 10 conference games, as announced today by the University and the A10.

Of the 18 conference games, 14 will be nationally televised, per the A10’s announcement of the league’s national television schedule on ESPN, CBS Sports Network and NBC Sports Network. For the Flyers, six will be on an ESPN outlet, six on CBS Sports Network, and two on the NBC Sports Network.

One conference game (at George Washington) is to be announced, but the Flyers’ first A10 game is scheduled to be at UD Arena against La Salle on Wednesday, Dec. 30, followed by another home game against George Mason on Saturday, Jan. 2 to open the new year.

The first road game will be Tuesday, Jan. 5 against Fordham, with four home games and four road games in January, three home and five road in February, and one home game against VCU on Wednesday, March 3 to close the conference regular season.

The A10 Men’s Basketball Championship tournament will be played March 10-14 in Brooklyn at the Barclays Center.

Flexibility will be an important part of this season, with the A10 introducing two bye dates for each team between Jan. 13 and Feb. 24, and an open weekend of March 5-7. This allows for any postponed match-ups to be made up.

“The 2020-21 year will be a unique and challenging season due to the COVID environment,” Commissioner Bernadette V. McGlade said in a press release. “Utilizing multiple bye dates, creating an open weekend at the end of the season and moving games into December was deliberately done to allow for maximum flexibility to ensure the safety of our student-athletes, teams and campuses.”

Outside of the A10 schedule, the official non-conference slate will be announced at a later date, according to the release.

For now, the Flyers are slated to travel to Atlanta to face Mississippi State on the SEC Network in the Holiday Hoopsgiving (tentatively scheduled for Dec. 12), and then host Ole Miss on NBC Sports (Dec. 19).

With the two non-conference games and 14 conference games broadcast nationally, the Flyers will have at least 16 national telecasts for the fourth consecutive season.

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