Above graphic by Neil Faux/@FauxFx31
BELTON- UMHB head men’s basketball coach Clif Carroll will not have to worry about his team being road-tested during the 2022-2023 season. A look at the Cru’s schedule says that much.
In the complete 2022-2023 slate that has been released, UMHB ventures on the road in early November and does not play its first home contest until Dec. 15 against Howard Payne. In that span, the Crusaders are scheduled to play six road games, the first three of which will be in California. In the first of two west coast trips, UMHB battles Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (Nov. 8), Redlands (Nov. 9) and Pomona-Pitzer (Nov. 11) to open the year. The Cru men’s basketball program has never faced any one of the three opponents, all of whom compete in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC). Pomona-Pitzer highlights the trip, as the Sagehens are coming off their third-straight SCIAC tournament title.
A 22-day break in the schedule follows before play resumes with the ASC opener at Concordia (TX) on Dec. 3. The 3 p.m. tip-off will be a rematch of the ASC tournament quarterfinal game played in Belton in February. From there, an east Texas road trip follows, with duels against LeTourneau and ETBU, in that order, before the home opener on Dec. 15.
Following a Dec. 17 conference contest against Sul Ross State in Belton, the Cru heads west again; this time to the pacific northwest. In Spokane, Washington, Carroll’s team is scheduled to play Whitworth, who was ranked No. 13 in the nation at one point last season, and Linfield. Those games come on Dec. 20 and Dec. 21. UMHB is 1-2 all-time against Whitworth, having last played the Pirates in a 2015 contest at the D3hoops.com Classic. They have never battled Linfield on the basketball court.
The 2022-23 season also brings back the Cru Classic, which will be contested for the first time in Carroll’s tenure. UMHB, Sul Ross State, and Nebraska Wesleyan make up the three-team field, with the round-robin format played from Dec. 29-31. The Crusaders open it on Dec. 29 at 1 p.m., facing SRSU in a rematch of an ASC game played just 12 days prior. On Dec. 31, NWU and UMHB face off for the first time in another 1 p.m. matchup.
From there it is full speed into conference play, with a trip to Ozarks in Clarksville, Arkansas coming five days into the new year. Other notable ASC matchups include Hardin-Simmons (Jan. 12 in Belton, Feb. 18 in Abilene), UT-Dallas (Jan. 7 in Richardson, Feb. 9 in Belton), and Concordia (Jan. 21 in Austin).
The complete 2022-2023 schedule can be found here.
UMHB finished the 2021-22 season ranked No. 7 in the nation by D3hoops.com, and posted a 28-3 record, winning the ASC title. UMHB also won three games in the NCAA Tournament.
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