Men's Hoops 2012 Non-Conference Schedule

CORAL GABLES, Fla. — The University of Miami men’s basketball team officially released its 2012 non-conference schedule, highlighted by six contests at the BankUnited Center and five match-ups against teams that qualified for the 2012 postseason.
The Hurricanes kick off their non-conference slate Nov. 2 with an exhibition game against St. Leo and conclude two months later with a home match-up against La Salle (Jan. 2). Other highlights include Michigan State’s visit for the annual ACC/Big 10 Challenge (Nov. 28) and the Hurricanes’ trip to Honolulu, Hawaii, for the Diamond Head Classic (Dec. 22-25).
“There are basically three components to your schedule – non-conference, the ACC regular season and ACC tournament. We always schedule very competitive non-conference opponents so that will help prepare us for the very, very rigorous ACC challenges that we’ll have ahead of us. This year’s non-conference schedule is particularly difficult, because of the number of teams that we will face that were in postseason play last year.” 
Miami opens its regular season campaign with a trio of in-state competitors: Stetson (Nov. 9), Florida Gulf Coast University (Nov. 13) and Jacksonville (Nov. 16). 
Detroit (Nov. 24) and Michigan State (Nov. 28), who both made the NCAA Tournament in 2012, will travel to Coral Gables for two highly anticipated match-ups in late November. The Spartans, who earned a No. 1 seed in the tournament and advanced to the Sweet 16, were ranked No. 9 in ESPN.com’s preseason Top 25 poll. 
The Hurricanes will play at home only once in December, as five of the month’s six games take place outside Coral Gables. They will face UMass in Amherst, Mass., (Dec. 1). before a trip home and a showdown with UNC-Charlotte (Dec. 14).  After their brief stay, the Canes will make the drive to Orlando, Fla., for a match-up with in-state rival UCF on Dec. 18. 
Jim Larranaga and staff will spend the holidays in Hawaii for the annual Diamond Head Classic, which includes six teams that qualified for the postseason in 2012. The Hurricanes will face either Arizona or East Tennessee State (Dec. 23) following their opening day matchup with the University of Hawaii (Dec. 22). The Hurricanes will conclude the tournament on Christmas Day with possible matchups against San Diego St., Ole Miss, San Francisco or Indiana State (Dec. 25). 
The Hurricanes will wrap up their non-conference schedule Jan. 2 at home against LaSalle before opening up conference play on the road against Georgia Tech. 
“Even though we have 18 games now in the ACC, we wanted to really challenge ourselves in the non-conference and we feel like we’re going to do that,” said assistant coach Eric Konkol. “Each team brings a different element to our schedule, which will create a very strong RPI and balanced slate for us.”
Individual game tickets for non-conference matchups go on sale Nov. 1. To order your tickets, call 305-284-2263. 
For the complete Miami men’s basketball schedule, see below or schedule page.