SEWARD, Neb. – The schedule is set for the 2019-20 Concordia University men’s basketball season, which is slated to tip off in late October at the Hastings College Classic. Just before Christmas, the Bulldogs will be singing Mele Kalikimaka in Honolulu, Hawaii, where two of 10 nonconference games will be contested. In total, head coach Ben Limback’s squad will play a standard 30-game regular-season slate with 20 of those outings coming against GPAC opponents.
The 2019-20 campaign will mark Limback’s seventh season as head coach at his alma mater. Concordia did not graduate a single senior from the 2018-19 team that went 15-16 overall but showed growth over the second half of the conference season. A backcourt featuring All-GPAC honorees in Carter Kent, Brevin Sloup and Tanner Shuck will return.
The first of 13 regular-season home games will take place Nov. 1 when the 20th annual Cattle Classic gets underway. As part of the weekend event, the Bulldogs will take on a Benedictine College (Kan.) program that went 31-4 this past season. In-state Nebraska foe Peru State College (23-11 in 2018-19) will also pay a visit to Walz Arena. That game will be staged Dec. 28. Conference play will open up at home on Nov. 12 versus Midland.
Phoenix, Ariz., served as a destination site last season over the Christmas break. For the first time during his tenure, Limback will take his team to Hawaii (Dec. 21-22). While on the island, Concordia is scheduled to play Menlo College (Calif.) and MidAmerica Nazarene University (Kan.) as part of the Malika Sport Classic. Just over a month later, the 69th annual Concordia Invitational Tournament will be hosted by Concordia University, Chicago. On the first day of CIT (Jan. 24), the Bulldogs will take on CU-Ann Arbor.
Dates for the GPAC tournament are Feb. 26 for the quarterfinals, Feb. 29 for the semifinals and March 3 for the championship. This will be the final season that the NAIA is separated into two divisions. The 2020 NAIA Division II Men’s Basketball National Championship tournament will run March 11-17 at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D.
2019-20 Nonconference Opponents – 2018-19 Record
Benedictine College (Kan.) (Nov. 2) – 31-4
Concordia University, Ann Arbor (Jan. 24) – 8-22
Concordia University, Chicago – 6-19 / Concordia University, Wisconsin (Jan. 25) – 18-8
Dickinson State University (N.D.) (Nov. 1) – 14-13
Menlo College (Calif.) (Dec. 21) – 13-14
MidAmerica Nazarene University (Kan.) (Dec. 22) – 16-14
Nebraska Christian College (Nov. 23) – 14-17
Peru State College (Dec. 28) – 23-11
Two TBA at Hastings Classic (Oct. 25-26)