Schedule News: A look at UMHB men’s basketball’s 2024-25 schedule

BELTON—The 2024-25 Mary Hardin-Baylor men’s basketball schedule has been released, and The Cru will be going head-to-head with a number of top-tier opponents in the season ahead. 

Due to the ASC being composed of just six institutions for the 2024-25 season, UMHB will play only 10 league games (UT-Dallas will play all ASC opponents but those games will not count as conference games as the Comets are transitioning to Division II) and 15 non-conference games, a significant difference from the 16 ASC games and nine non-league games the Crusaders played in 2023-24. 

As we previously reported, the season will begin with a high-level duel against the reigning national champion, Trine University, on Trine’s campus in Angola, Indiana on Nov. 8. The following day, UMHB faces Heidelberg, a program that went 16-11 and plays in the well-respected Ohio Athletic Conference, on a neutral court. 

With the first weekend of non-conference play complete, UMHB is set to return to Texas for six straight games, four of which will be played in Belton: Texas Lutheran (Nov. 16), College of Biblical Studies (Nov. 30), St. Thomas (TX) (Dec. 3), Concordia (TX) (Dec. 5). The two road games in that span will be against Concordia (TX) (Nov. 14) and at McMurry (Dec. 8). 

The Crusaders will also play in the Pacific Northwest for the second time in the last three years, as UMHB heads to Walla Walla, Washington. Set to face Whitman and Cal Lutheran, The Cru will have two tough tests on the West Coast, as both opponents won at least 20 games a season ago. Whitman went 20-7 and 13-3 in the NWC, reaching the conference championship game against Whitworth. Cal Lutheran went 23-5 in 2023-24, reaching the NCAA Tournament after claiming the SCIAC regular season championship with a 15-1 record. 

UMHB also travels the following weekend, playing at Transylvania’s Don Lane Classic in Lexington, Kentucky. Opponents for that classic have not yet been announced. 

The Crusaders will host a classic of their own just before New Year’s, rounding out the non-conference portion of the schedule. The field will be made up of Concordia (MN), Illinois Wesleyan, and LeTourneau, with UMHB hosting Concordia on Dec. 29 and IWU on Dec. 30. Concordia is coming off a 12-8 season in the MIAC last year, and IWU, who played UMHB in its second game of last season, won the CCIW’s regular season title in 2023-24. 

Conference play doesn’t officially begin until a home contest against ETBU on Jan. 23, though UMHB plays at UT-Dallas on Jan. 16. Four of The Cru’s final seven games of the regular season are on the road, though UMHB concludes the season in Belton, facing Hardin-Simmons on Feb. 20 and Howard Payne on Feb. 22. 

The 2024-25 complete schedule is below.