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The Redbirds
officially released the 27-game regular-season schedule on
Wednesday, after the Missouri Valley Conference issued the league
portion earlier in the day. With seven of the eight non-conference
games being played in the state of Illinois, the travel-friendly
schedule continued its string of luck by not having more than two
straight games away from Redbird Arena.
Even though the
schedule might be easy in terms of mileage, it will be competitively
challenging, and that's what initially caught Moser's eye.
"Looking at our
schedule it is tough to single out any one tough stretch," Moser
said. "With as competitive as the Valley is going to be this year,
they are all tough stretches, but that's good news for the league,
great for the fans and makes for good rivalries."
The Redbirds have
five league weekend dates at home, including the league opener
against Northern Iowa on Dec. 20. For the third straight season, the
'Birds start the league road schedule at Southern Illinois. ISU will
face the Salukis in Carbondale on Dec. 28.
After the non-league
game against Illinois, the Redbirds return home to host Creighton on
Jan. 7, before back-to-back road games at Indiana State and Drake.
Illinois State renews
the Interstate-74 rivalry with Bradley on Jan. 31 at Redbird Arena
and returns to Peoria on Feb. 18.
"We have a real good
mix of Wednesday and Saturday games," Moser added. "The Valley
office does a great job of keeping the schedules consistent. After
playing seven out of eight games on the road last season in the Sun
Belt, this is refreshing."
Illinois State will
finish the regular-season campaign at Redbird Arena for the fifth
straight season, when the 'Birds host Drake on March 1.
Season tickets for
the upcoming men's basketball season are currently on sale. For more
information, please contact the ticket office at Redbird Arena,
(309) 438-8000.
[to top of second column in this
article]
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2003-04 Redbird basketball schedule
(Home games in bold. Missouri Valley Conference games indicated with
asterisk. All game times to be determined.)
Nov. 23, Florida A&M
Nov. 26, at Northern
Illinois
Nov. 29, at Utah
State
Dec. 2, Bellarmine
Dec. 6, Marshall
Dec. 13, at
Illinois-Chicago
Dec. 16, Western
Kentucky
Dec. 20, Northern
Iowa*
Dec. 28, at Southern
Illinois*
Jan. 3, at Illinois
Jan. 7, Creighton*
Jan. 10, at Indiana
State*
Jan. 14, at Drake*
Jan. 18, SMS*
Jan. 21, Southern
Illinois*
Jan. 24, at
Creighton*
Jan. 28, at Northern
Iowa*
Jan. 31, Bradley*
Feb. 4, Wichita
State*
Feb. 7, at SMS*
Feb. 11, at
Evansville*
Feb. 14, Indiana
State*
Feb. 18, at Bradley*
Feb. 21, ESPN
Bracket Busters II
Feb. 25, Evansville*
Feb. 28, at Wichita
State*
March 1, Drake*
March 5-8, at Valley tournament
[Todd Kober, director of athletics
media relations,
Illinois State University]
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