2014-15 Schedule

Head Coach Matt Bowen and the University of Minnesota Duluth men's basketball team have officially announced their 2014-15 slate of opponents.

The Bulldogs graduated a pair of seniors this past season, but will add eight new players as well as the returning 2013-14 NSIC Preseason Player of the Year Brett Ervin, who received a medical redshirt last season, as they look to continue the upward movement the program has seen in the past two seasons under the guidance of Coach Bowen and his staff.

The Bulldogs will begin the 2014-15 season with a pair of measuring-stick exhibitions against NCAA Division I teams in the University of Notre Dame and the National Invitational Tournament champions from the University of Minnesota. For the second straight season, UMD will take on the Green Bay Phoenix in a midseason exhibition date on Dec. 1.

The regular season tips off for UMD at the Southwest Baptist University Tournament against Lincoln (Mo.) University and the host Bearcats Nov. 14-15. The non-conference schedule continues with three at home, starting with the annual border battle against Wisconsin-Superior, followed by a trio of tough NCAA II match-ups, first with Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference foe Michigan Tech University and the University of Wisconsin-Parkside of the Great Lakes Valley Conference. The Bulldogs close out the non-conference slate against another GLIAC team, Northern Michigan University, in Marquette on Nov. 25.

UMD jumps head-first into conference competition at the end of November with six straight against the NSIC North division, closing out the season's first half with three at home. The Bulldogs were 8-6 against the North division in 2013-14 and will look to improve on that mark next season. A pair of NSIC South division teams entered the NCAA II Tournament last season, and UMD will see them both in the second half, beginning with a trip to defending NSIC Champion Minnesota State University on Jan. 3. The Bulldogs will host Winona State University a month later. Bowen's squad reached the NSIC Tournament last season, with Upper Iowa University coming from behind to knock off UMD, and the Bulldogs will look for revenge against the Peacocks on Feb. 6 at Romano Gym.

Expectations will be very different for UMD as the team brings a much more veteran-laden squad to the court than a season ago. A cast of four seniors, four junior transfers, an experienced sophomore class, and several high school stand-outs will look to continue the building that Bowen has started in his first two seasons.