11/22: 19th Annual Lopata Classic – The men open the season as hosts of the tournament this weekend. The Bears will take on Wesleyan at 8:00 pm tonight and play again Saturday.
Senior Joel Parrott on the Lopata Classic: “We really want to win it bad. We’ve won it the past 3 years and it’s a goal of ours to win it again. It’s also our opener so we want to show everyone what we’ve got.”
12/6: Washington University Tip-Off Tournament – Beginning Friday, Dec. 6 the women will host the tournament that will likely feature a show down against DePauw U on Saturday. With a 69-61 win last season, the Bears DePauw one of only four losses. DePauw enters this season ranked 9th.
Senior Laura Crowley on the Tip-Off Tournament: “Those are always good games because the second game is the championship.”
And assuming WU faces DePauw, “That’s going to be a really good game. They’re preseason rank is really high and so is ours,” said Crowley.
1/24: University of Rochester – WU faces the first of seven UAA conference match-ups to be held at home.
Rochester’s men placed third in the NCAA tournament last season and placed second to WU in the UAA. WU defeated them 65-48 at home but barely pulled off a 65-63 win on the road. Rochester may be the biggest obstacle between the Bears and another 14-0 conference record.
The WU women have gone a combined 92-2 in home conference games. Last season, they won 61-44 at home, but Rochester fought harder in their own gym in falling to the Bears just 60-62.
Men’s head coach, Mark Edwards, on Rochester: “I think Rochester is going to be a big showdown for us this year. Rochester graduated only one player off their team, and it took a tip in at the buzzer for us to beat them at their place. Of course we know that Rochester, Chicago and New York are always a challenge. The conference in itself is a battle, game by game by game.”
2/2: New York University – The men handled NYU easily last season, once winning 77-43 in New York. For the WU women, a bitter rivalry always inspires them to bring its best against NYU, and that showed in 57-47 and 78-60 wins last season. This should be no exception.
Crowley on NYU’s women: “As far as our conference games, we hate NYU, and they hate us more probably than we hate them. They are our biggest conference foes so that’s another exciting game.”
2/16: Case Western Reserve University – Last year, the men bettered a close 97-92 win on the road with an 82-49 victory at home. The CWRU women, currently ranked 30th, challenged WU, who won 74-63 and 75-62.
Edwards on the UAA and CWRU’s men: “This is going to be an interesting conference because a lot of the young teams last year return a lot of players. Teams like Carnegie, Emory and Case were right on the verge of turning the corner. Those are teams that this year are going to be stronger, more confident and playing them this year is going to be a little more difficult than it was last year even.”
3/1: University of Chicago – This game is both the season finale and senior night. The lady Bears dominated Chicago last season. However, the men have experienced some thrillers over the years. The Chicago men will try to avenge 65-62 and 64-62 losses last season. Don’t be surprised if this game, or the match-up against Rochester, becomes from the get-go a literal edge-of-your-seat, back-and-forth, down-to-the-wire thriller.
Jeffries on facing Chicago in his last collegiate regular season game: “I’m loving it. I am so looking forward to that; to have the last game be Chicago here, senior night. I want it to be against someone who has really given us trouble over the past few years.”