Since the 2004-2005 basketball season ended, GW fans have been waiting with bated breath for the prospect of more buff and blue basketball. Fans need wait no longer than Nov. 12 for the men’s team to open up its preseason against Augusta State in an afternoon game at the Smith Center.
After their first Atlantic 10 crown in program history, the Colonials, led by fifth-year coach Karl Hobbs, will play in their home and regular-season opener against Kennesaw State on Nov. 23. On Nov. 26, the Colonials will take on Mid-Eastern Atlantic Conference opponent Norfolk State followed by St. Francis (Penn.) on Nov. 30. The Colonials will take on Boston University, a former place of tutelage for Hobbs, on Dec. 2. The BB&T Classic will take place at the MCI Center on Dec. 5, pitting the Colonials against the University of Maryland.
For the second consecutive year, the men will take on Florida International, this year in Foggy Bottom. Last year, the Colonials topped the Golden Panthers 81-71 in Florida. On Dec. 10, GW will take on Morgan State in Baltimore followed by University of Maryland-Eastern Shore on Dec. 17 in the Smith Center.
The highlight of the Colonials’ schedule will be a New Year’s Eve contest in Raleigh against North Carolina State.
The Atlantic Coast Conference powerhouse knocked off defending NCAA champion University of Connecticut in the second round of the NCAA tournament last season.
Jan. 7, the Colonials will take on Marshall, a team that fell to GW in 2001 during the NABC classic in Kentucky. Jan. 16 will mark former assistant coach Steve Pikiell’s return to the Smith Center as head coach of Stony Brook University, of Long Island.
The Colonials will face Charlotte, Richmond and St. Joseph’s on the road and in Foggy Bottom. At home, GW will also face Dayton, La Salle, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Saint Louis. On the road GW will take on Duquesne, Fordham, St. Bonaventure, Temple, and Xavier.
The GW women will open up their season in Foggy Bottom on Nov. 18 against the University of Virginia. Over Thanksgiving weekend, the squad will head south to the Bahamas in the Junkanoo Jam, facing Purdue University or the University of South Carolina in the second round.
At home, the women will face Pat Summitt’s University of Tennessee on Dec. 7, Stony Brook University on Dec. 10, Southern Methodist University on Dec. 13, the University of Maine on Dec. 17 and Yale University on Dec. 20. On Dec. 30, the day before the men’s prime-time game, McKeown’s squad will take on North Carolina State in Raleigh.
