Courtesy of GoGriffs.com
A trip to perennial national power Kentucky, home dates with UT-Martin, Tennessee State, St. Francis Brooklyn and Albany, a game in First Niagara Center against cross-town rival Buffalo and a road game at long-time rival St. Bonaventure highlight the 2016-17 Canisius men’s basketball non-game schedule, released today (Aug. 16). In all, the Golden Griffins are scheduled to play 10 non-league games under first-year head coach Reggie Witherspoon.
Season tickets for the combined men and women’s home schedule can be purchased or renewed by calling the Canisius Ticket Office at (716) 888-TIXX between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, or by going online to GoGriffs.com. Reserved seats cost $200, with general admission season tickets costing $100. The purchase of a Canisius season ticket includes tickets to the Griffs’ Big 4 Basketball Classic game against Buffalo in First Niagara Center. Group ticket packages, ticket packs and single-game tickets will go on sale in the near future.
Canisius will officially open the 113th season in school history Sunday, Nov. 13, when the team travels to play at Kentucky in Rupp Arena. That is the first of four games in the Bluegrass Showcase, which will also see the Blue and Gold play road games at Cleveland State (Nov. 15) and at Duquesne (Nov. 18). The Griffs will play their first home game of the season Nov. 21 when the team welcomes UT-Martin to the Koessler Athletic Center.
The Griffs host Tennessee State the night before Thanksgiving in the Koessler Athletic Center, the first meeting between the two schools since Jan. 11, 1964. Canisius then travels to Youngstown State Saturday, Nov. 26, for the first regular-season meeting between the two programs since 2006-07. The Griffs and the Penguins last met in the second round of the 2013 CIT, where Canisius overcame a 20-point second-half deficit en route to an 84-82 win in overtime.
After Canisius opens MAAC play on the road the first weekend of December, the team will return to Buffalo to play four-straight games in Western New York, starting Dec. 10, when St. Francis Brooklyn travels to the Koessler Athletic Center. Canisius will host its final non-league home game Dec. 12 when Albany travels west on the New York State Thruway for the first meeting between the programs since 2008-09.
Canisius’ final two non-league games will feature contests against Big 4 rivals, starting Dec. 17, when the Blue and Gold squares off with cross-town rival Buffalo in the second game of the Big 4 Basketball Classic at First Niagara Center. That game is set for a 3:30 p.m., tipoff. Five days later, the Griffs will travel to Olean, N.Y., to meet long-time rival St. Bonaventure. The game with the Bonnies will be the 165th in series history, and it will also mark the 38th time the two rivals have played on the hardwood in St. Bonaventure’s Reilly Center.
The full MAAC schedule will be announced in the near future.
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