UNLV basketball announces mild non-conference schedule for 2022-23

By Mike Grimala (contact)

Friday, Aug. 19, 2022 | 11:39 a.m.

UNLV released its non-conference schedule on Friday, and it’s a decidedly mild slate.

The Scarlet and Gray will play 12 games outside the Mountain West, beginning with a Nov. 7 home opener against Southern University and concluding on Dec. 22 when they’ll host Southern Mississippi at the Thomas & Mack Center.

The question is, is the competition strong enough?

Head coach Kevin Kruger said earlier this offseason that his goal was to put together a schedule that would give UNLV an opportunity to earn an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament, but on first glance that does not appear to be a cinch.

One of the non-conference games is against Life Pacific (Nov. 26), a non-Division I school; of the remaining 11 contests, only three opponents finished in the top 100 of the KenPom ratings last year and only one made the NCAA Tournament. There is only one true road game, at San Diego on Dec. 3.

The highlights of the schedule figure to be Dayton (Nov. 15), Washington State (Dec. 10) and San Francisco (Dec. 17). Dayton went 24-11 a year ago end finished No. 45 in KenPom, while Washington State went 22-15 and checked in at No. 44. San Francisco went 24-10 and ranked 23^rd in KenPom; the Dons are the only NCAA Tournament team on the schedule

The lowlights are legion. Southern (Nov. 7), High Point (Nov. 18) and San Diego (Dec. 3) all finished outside the top 200 in the KenPom ratings last year, while Incarnate Word (Nov. 12) and Southern Mississippi (Dec. 22) both ranked in the bottom 20 of the entire country. Incarnate Word went 7-25 last year and was the nation’s sixth-worst team according to KenPom.

And it could get worse. If UNLV draws Cal Baptist in the first round of the SoCal Challenge on Nov. 23 (it will either be Cal Baptist or Minnesota), that will add another team outside the top 200.

As usual, UNLV will avoid the Thomas & Mack Center for a lengthy stretch to accommodate the National Finals Rodeo. After playing Life Pacific at the Mack on Nov. 26, the Scarlet and Gray won’t return to the venue until they host San Francisco on Dec. 17. In between they’ll travel to San Diego and play two games at other Las Vegas venues, taking on Hawaii at the Dollar Loan Center on Dec. 7 and facing Washington State at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Dec. 10.

UNLV is currently in Canada playing a series of exhibition contests against Vancouver-area opponents. The Scarlet and Gray lost the first game of the trip, falling to the University of British Columbia on Tuesday in a stunning upset, then recovered with a blowout win over the University of Calgary on Wednesday. They will conclude the trip on Friday night against the University of the Fraser Valley.

In Kruger’s first season at the helm in 2021-22, UNLV went 18-14 overall and 10-8 in Mountain West play.

The full 2022-23 non-conference schedule:

Nov. 7 vs. Southern

Nov. 12 vs. Incarnate Word

Nov. 15 vs. Dayton

Nov. 18 vs. High Point

Nov. 21 vs. Southern Illinois (SoCal Challenge)

Nov. 23 vs. Cal Baptist/Minnesota (SoCal Challenge)

Nov. 26 vs. Life Pacific

Dec. 3 at San Diego

Dec. 7 vs. Hawaii (at Dollar Loan Center)

Dec. 10 vs. Washington State (at MGM Grand Garden Arena)

Dec. 17 vs. San Francisco

Dec. 22 vs. Southern Mississippi

Mike Grimala can be reached at 702-948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Mike on Twitter at twitter.com/mikegrimala.