With an eye towards preparation, The Master’s University men’s basketball team has released it’s 2023-2024 30-game schedule.

Of the 30 games, the final 14 will be conference games, 14 will be non-conference and the first two will be exhibitions. The team will travel to Florida, Oklahoma and Arizona for non-conference games.

“We want to make certain we are prepared for the grind of the GSAC,” said TMU head coach Kelvin Starr. “So we worked hard to create a schedule to prepare our guys. The trips we have scheduled are going to be against some potentially nationally-ranked teams, plus we have some games at home against some very athletic teams like Antelope Valley and Lincoln.”

The exhibition games against the NCAA Division II Azusa Pacific Cougars and Biola Eagles will happen on Oct. 26 & 28 respectively. APU finished the season 22-8 last year, second in the PacWest Conference, and received votes for the NCAA D2 Top 25 final poll. Biola had an 18-11 season, finished fifth in the PacWest.

“Those two teams are probably two of the top three teams in the PacWest this year,” Starr said. “They will prepare us well.”

The Mustangs will also participate in the Cactus Classic, an annual tournament in Chandler, Ariz. right before Christmas break that will pit TMU against three of the better NAIA teams from the Frontier Conference.

Preparing for the GSAC, post-season and doing well in the national championship tournament is always the goal. If you do well in the GSAC you’re going to make it to nationals, and that’s another reason why Coach Starr wants to travel to different parts of the country to face those quality teams.

“The Sooner Conference is very competitive and we are playing two of those teams, and our trip to Florida will see us play two teams, one of which went to nationals from the Sun Conference,” he said. “So we are playing seven games from three good NAIA conferences.”

The conference is down to eight teams with Westmont going to NCAA Division II this year and San Diego Christian College cutting their sports programs. So the conference schedule will have 14 games with The Master’s playing each of the other teams at home and away.

“We are excited about it and feel we have a team that will compete very well this year.”

To see the schedule, click HERE.