2014-15 SCHEDULE:  HTML  |  PDF  |  GRAPHIC

Stony Brook, N.Y. - A challenging schedule filled with opponents coming off postseason appearances awaits the Stony Brook men’s basketball team, which released its 2014-15 slate on Friday. The #Seawolves will host six non-conference games at its brand new home, Stony Brook Arena, including Nov. 14 against Columbia, which will serve as the grand re-opening of the facility. The 15-game non-conference schedule also features games against 10 different conferences, including the American, Big East, Pac-12 and SEC, and an appearance in the NIT Season-Tip Off.

“This will be the toughest schedule we have ever faced,” said #Seawolves head coach Steve Pikiell. “Our schedule has multiple teams that won 20 games last season and many of them return the bulk of their starters. They also have a ton of postseason experience, making them battle-tested. This will be a challenge for our young team, but our goals are to compete, get better and get ready for the America East regular season and tournament.”

Nine of Stony Brook’s 15 non-conference games will be against opponents who won 20 or more games last season, and all but one of those teams advanced to national postseason tournaments. In total, Stony Brook’s Div. I non-conference opponents had a .564 winning percentage and four national postseason victories last season. The diversity of the schedule is paramount as the #Seawolves will play opponents across 10 different Div. I conferences, including the American, Big East, CAA, Conference USA, Ivy, MAAC, NEC, Pac-12, Patriot and SEC.

After opening the season against Columbia, which won 21 games and advanced to the CollegeInsider.com Tournament quarterfinals, the #Seawolves will begin their participation in the NIT Season Tip-Off with a Nov. 18 matchup at Georgia of the SEC. The Bulldogs were a 20-win team a year ago and picked up a win in the NIT first round. 

Stony Brook will then head to Hempstead, N.Y., on Nov. 21 to renew its rivalry with fellow Long Island school Hofstra as the two programs meet on the hardwood for the first time since Dec. 10, 2008. Two days later on Nov. 23, in what will be a homecoming for one individual, Stony Brook will host the United States Merchant Marine Academy. At the helm of the Mariners is Steve Hayn, who played for Stony Brook from 1988-91, scored 1,157 career points and helped lead the program to the 1991 NCAA Div. III Tournament.

The #Seawolves will then resume NIT Season Tip-Off action with three games during Thanksgiving week. On Nov. 25, Stony Brook will host Western Kentucky, which won 20 games last season and is now a member of Conference USA. Two days later on Thanksgiving Day Nov. 27, the #Seawolves will face LIU-Brooklyn at Madison Square Garden, the second consecutive year and third time in the last four years that the program will play at The World’s Most Famous Arena. The game will air on ESPNU. Closing out the NIT Season Tip-Off action is a Nov. 29 home game against St. Thomas Aquinas.

Stony Brook will open December with four consecutive road contests that will challenge the young #Seawolves squad. On Dec. 2, the team travels to Cincinnati to face a Bearcats squad that won 27 games and advanced to the NCAA Tournament last season. Then on Dec. 6, the #Seawolves play at Princeton, which won 21 games and advanced to the quarterfinals of the College Basketball Invitational last year.

On Dec. 13, Stony Brook faces another NCAA Tournament squad in Providence as the Friars won 23 games a year ago. The team squares up against Canisius in Buffalo on Dec. 18 against a Golden Griffins group that won 21 games and made an appearance in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament.

Stony Brook closes out December with home games against Patriot League foes Loyola Maryland (Dec. 21) and American (Dec. 23) before heading out west to play Pac-12 member Washington (Dec. 28) in Seattle.

Stony Brook will play its final non-conference game of the year on Jan. 6 against Columbia, but this time in Manhattan. 

The #Seawolves will play a 16-game, round-robin America East schedule that begins Jan. 3 at home against New Hampshire. Other home games include UMBC (Jan. 14), a re-match with defending conference champion Albany (Jan. 19), Hartford (Jan. 28), Vermont (Feb. 7), Maine (Feb. 14), Binghamton (Feb. 21) and UMass Lowell (Feb. 25).

The America East Championship has moved to a new format and will now be known as the America East Men’s Basketball Playoffs. All games of the eight-team tournament will take place on the campus of the higher seed. The quarterfinals will take place March 4, the semifinals will be played March 8 and the championship game will occur on March 14.