“Our home opener against Pepperdine, when we will celebrate our 2012-13 WAC Regular Season Championship and raise a banner, will be an exciting day not just for our team but our program,” says head coach Joan Bonvicini. “We’re setting a standard for what we expect to do here every year – win the WAC and go to the postseason. From that game forward, we’re really going to be challenged in non-conference play. We’re playing three Pac-12 schools, as well as several Big Sky, Big West, and West Coast Conference schools and all of them will challenge us. We’ll also be hosting our own Thanksgiving tournament again this year.”
This season, Seattle U will face one team who appeared in last year’s NCAA Tournament, Idaho, by way of winning the WAC Championship game. The team will also face three fellow WNIT teams from 2012-13, including UC Santa Barbara, who also appeared in the First Round, as well as Washington and San Diego, who made it to the Second Round.
Following a home exhibition vs. Central Washington on Nov. 2, the Redhawks will host Pepperdine in their regular season home opener on Friday, Nov. 8. As part of the evening’s celebration, the team will raise the WAC Regular Season Champions banner over their home court at the Connolly Center.
On Tuesday, Nov. 12, Seattle U will host their first of three Pac-12 opponents as the Washington State Cougars travel to Seattle. The following week, on Tuesday, Nov. 19, this year’s crosstown rivalry vs. Washington will take place at Alaska Airlines Arena.
Prior to Thanksgiving, SU will take a short road trip to their neighboring state to the south to face Portland State (Nov. 22) and Portland (Nov. 24).
For the fifth straight season, every year since Bonvicini arrived in Seattle, the Redhawks will host the Delta Dental Thanksgiving Tournament over Thanksgiving weekend. This season, Drake and Cornell will open the tournament on Friday, Nov. 29, followed by SU taking on Coastal Carolina. On Saturday, Nov. 30, the consolation and championship games will take place.
The Redhawks will open up the month of December with a home game vs. the University of Oregon on Dec. 4 at KeyArena. They, then, hit the road to face San Diego on Sunday, Dec. 8 before returning home vs.Montana State on Saturday, Dec. 14.
Seattle U will finish 2013 and their non-conference schedule in the state of California at LMU (Thursday Dec. 19), Cal State Fullerton (Saturday Dec. 21) and UC Santa Barbara (Saturday Dec. 28) before opening up WAC play to start 2014.
“Our expectation every year is to compete and win the WAC title,” Bonvicini continues. “The biggest change this season is that there are six new teams in the conference, some of which we’ve played and some of which we haven’t. I think it’ll be a good challenge for us and I’m confident that our non-conference schedule will prepare us for conference play.”
Alongside 2012-13 WAC members Idaho and New Mexico State, the Redhawks will face six new conference opponents in 2013-14 including Kansas City, Bakersfield, UTPA, Grand Canyon, Chicago State, and Utah Valley.
SU will alternate weekends at home and away in conference play, starting with a road trip to Chicago State (Jan. 2) and Kansas City (Jan. 4), also traveling to Bakersfield (Jan. 16) and Utah Valley (Jan. 18), UTPA (Feb. 6) and New Mexico State (Feb. 8), Grand Canyon (Feb. 20), and Idaho (Mar. 1).
In league play, the Redhawks will host New Mexico State (Jan. 9) and UTPA (Jan. 11) in their conference home opening weekend, also hosting Grand Canyon (Jan. 25), Idaho (Feb. 1), Utah Valley (Feb. 13) and Bakersfield (Feb. 15), before finishing the regular season hosting Kansas City (Mar. 6) and Chicago State (Mar. 8) on Senior Day.
The Western Athletic Conference men’s and women’s basketball tournaments will return to the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Nev. this season, with the women’s portion of the tournament taking place on Mar. 12, 14, and 15. The winner of the league tournament will advance to the NCAA Tournament, with the First and Second Rounds taking place from Mar. 22-25, Regionals from Mar. 29-Apr. 1, and the Final Four from Apr. 6-8.
Season tickets are now available on the “tickets” link at www.goseattleu.com or by calling the Seattle U Athletics Ticket Office at (206) 398-GOSU(4678).
Reserved seats are $120 and general admission seats are $50 for the season. Groups of 10 or more will received discounted tickets and have access to special fan experiences throughout the season. Advance single-game tickets will be available starting in October 2013.
Click HERE to see the full schedule.