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PROVO, Utah (Aug. 8, 2006) -- The Mountain West Conference has released the BYU men's basketball 2006 conference schedule, which begins in Provo against reigning MWC Champion San Diego State and culminates against in-state rival Utah in the Marriott Center -- the first regular-season finale between the Cougars and Utes since the 1995-96 season.
"Our league will be very competitive this year," BYU coach Dave Rose said. "Seven of the nine teams return at least three starters and five return four or more. We are looking forward to the upcoming season. I think our fans will be treated to some outstanding basketball in the Marriott Center this year."
MWC games will again follow a primary Wednesday-Saturday schedule, with some contests being played on Tuesdays for television. Game times and television schedules will be announced at a later date.
In MWC play, BYU will host four games on Saturday, three on Wednesday and one on Tuesday in the Marriott Center. Including the previously released exhibition and nonconference schedule, which includes the new three-day, four-team BYU Holiday Classic Dec. 28-30, Cougar fans will be able to see an unprecedented 23 games in the Marriott Center during the 2006-07 season. Fans can purchase season ticket packages starting at just $75 through the Marriott Center Ticket Office at 800-322-BYU1 or 422-BYU1.
After opening MWC play at home against the Aztecs on Jan. 6, BYU will host TCU on Jan. 10 before taking its first MWC road trip to UNLV on Jan. 13. The Cougars then host Wyoming (Jan. 16) in the first of three Tuesday night games on their schedule before consecutive road contests at Colorado State (Jan. 20) and New Mexico (Jan. 24). BYU rounds out the first half of league action facing Air Force (Jan. 27) in Provo and Utah (Jan. 31) in Salt Lake City in a Wednesday night tipoff.
Coach Rose and the Cougars start the second half of the season with UNLV visiting the Marriott Center on Feb. 3 before consecutive road outings starting with a Tuesday date at Wyoming on Feb. 6 followed by a Feb. 10 game at TCU. BYU returns home and sandwiches a Saturday bye between Wednesday games against New Mexico (Feb. 14) and Colorado State (Feb. 21) before returning to the road for its third two-game road swing of the conference schedule, traveling to San Diego to face the Aztecs on Feb. 24 followed by a Tuesday game at Air Force on Feb. 27.
BYU will host Utah to end league play on March 3, marking the first time the two rivals have met in the regular-season finale since the Cougars hosted the Utes to conclude the Western Athletic Conference season on March 2, 1996.
Including BYU's nonconference schedule, the Cougars will play 30 regular-season games in 2006-07 prior to the MWC Tournament at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas March 6-10. BYU's non-league games include dates with 2006 NCAA Tournament runner-up UCLA of the Pac-10 Conference, 2005 Final Four participant Michigan State of the Big Ten Conference and 2006 NCAA qualifier Seton Hall of the Big East Conference. In all, the Cougars' non-league slate includes 14 games against teams from 10 different conferences prior to beginning MWC play.
BYU Men's Basketball 2006-07 Schedule
November 2 (Thurs.) Brock University of Canada (exh.) Provo, Utah 8 (Wed.) Univ. of Montevallo (exh.) Provo, Utah 10 (Fri.) Cougar Tipoff (Blue/White game) Provo, Utah 15 (Wed.) UCLA Los Angeles 18 (Sat.) Idaho State Provo, Utah 22 (Wed.) Portland Provo, Utah 24 (Fri.) Southern Utah Provo, Utah 29 (Wed.) Boise State Boise, Idaho
December 2 (Sat.) Weber State Ogden, Utah 6 (Wed.) San Jose State Provo, Utah 9 (Sat.) Michigan State Auburn Hills, Mich. 13 (Wed.) Lamar Beaumont, Texas 16 (Sat.) Utah State Provo, Utah 22 (Fri.) Western Oregon Provo, Utah 28-30 (Th-Sat.) BYU Holiday Classic Provo, Utah 28 (Thurs.) Oral Roberts vs. Seton Hall BYU vs. Liberty 29 (Fri.) Liberty vs. Seton Hall BYU vs. Oral Roberts 30 (Sat.) Liberty vs. Oral Roberts BYU vs. Seton Hall
January 6 (Sat.) *San Diego State Provo, Utah 10 (Wed.) *TCU Provo, Utah 13 (Sat.) *UNLV Las Vegas 16 (Tues.) *Wyoming Provo, Utah 20 (Sat.) *Colorado State Fort Collins, Colo. 24 (Wed.) *New Mexico Albuquerque, N.M. 27 (Sat.) *Air Force Provo, Utah 31 (Wed.) *Utah Salt Lake City
February 3 (Sat.) *UNLV Provo, Utah 6 (Tues.) *Wyoming Laramie, Wyo. 10 (Sat.) *TCU Fort Worth, Texas 14 (Wed.) *New Mexico Provo, Utah 21 (Wed.) *Colorado State Provo, Utah 24 (Sat.) *San Diego State San Diego 27 (Tues.) *Air Force USAFA, Colo.
March 3 (Sat.) *Utah Provo, Utah 6-10 (Tues-Sat.) MWC Tournament Las Vegas
*denotes Mountain West Conference game Game times and television broadcasts yet to be announced
