Mammoth Blog

AMHERST -- The 100th anniversary of University of Massachusetts basketball will take the Minutemen into the lairs of last year's NCAA Division I finalists, and back to Springfield.

First-year head coach Derek Kellogg's inaugural schedule was released yesterday, and it includes road games at defending national champion Kansas and at national runner-up Memphis.

"This is a schedule that is filled with great challenges, but one that we are excited to take on," Kellogg said in a statement. "To play against the two teams who played for the NCAA title last year will be a wonderful experience and one that will get the players and fans very excited."

Kellogg returned to coach his alma mater this past spring, replacing Travis Ford, who took over at Oklahoma State.

The Minutemen will travel to Memphis to play former UMass coach John Calipari's Tigers on Monday, Nov. 17. That game is scheduled to be shown at midnight on ESPN.

It'll be a homecoming for Kellogg, who has been an assistant to Calipari for the past eight seasons.

Then on Saturday, Dec. 13, UMass will play national champion Kansas in a game that'll be at the newly built Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo.

UMass will return to Springfield on Saturday, Jan. 10, for a 4 p.m. contest against Dayton at the MassMutual Center. It's the first time the Minutemen have played in Springfield since they lost to Alabama-Birmingham on Nov. 25,
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2005. It's also the fourth time in the last 10 years UMass has ventured down I-91.

The Minutemen will face six teams that played in last year's NCAA Tournament and three that played in the NIT.

UMass actually opens its season at Ann Arbor, Mich., in the 2K Sports Classic benefitting Coaches vs. Cancer. The matchups have not been determined. If UMass gets through its first two games, it would play in Madison Square Garden in the semifinals on Nov. 20.

The home opener will be Monday, Nov. 24 against Jacksonville State.

Vanderbilt, a Top 25 team last year, will visit the Mullins Center on Saturday, Jan. 3, at 5 p.m., while Boston College will renew its rivalry with UMass at the Mullins Center on Saturday, Dec. 6, at 8:30 p.m.

Dayton opens the Atlantic 10 Conference schedule for the Minutemen. UMass will play home-and-home with LaSalle, Saint Joseph's and Rhode Island.

This year, rival Temple visits the Mullins Center on Saturday, Jan. 17. Last year, these rivals only played once and that was in Philadelphia. Source>>>