Here's the University of Evansville's Missouri Valley Conference basketball schedule

EVANSVILLE —  Eight weeks away from tipoff, the University of Evansville men’s basketball schedule is officially finalized as the Missouri Valley Conference announced its slate Tuesday.

The Aces will host Southern Illinois on Dec. 1, a rare MVC matchup in the middle of the non-conference part of the schedule. That’s to avoid a game between Christmas and New Year’s when the Valley typically opens play.

It will mark the earliest MVC contest in program history, surpassing a Dec. 8 contest in 1999 at SIU.

Otherwise, the MVC will return to its normal 18-game, home-and-home format after last season involved back-to-back contests every Saturday and Sunday to minimize travel and the spread of COVID.

More:UE announced its non-conference schedule three weeks ago

UE will play every Wednesday and Saturday, for the most part. The opener is on a Wednesday and the second game is on a Sunday. Plus, it will play on a pair of Tuesdays.

(The entire, 31-game schedule is listed at the end of this story.)

Loyola is the reigning MVC regular-season and tournament champion, but Drake also made the NCAA tournament as an at-large bid. Those two teams, which each went 26-5, are expected to be contenders again along with Missouri State and Northern Iowa.

Perhaps UE, which finished fifth last year, can continue its ascent under Todd Lickliter and crack into the top tier. The Aces were 9-16 overall and 7-11 in the MVC. They’ve also won nine games in back-to-back years – something they hope to change.

Last season, UE swept UNI and Valparaiso while splitting with SIU, Illinois State and Missouri State.

They’ll open a new campaign on Nov. 9 at Cincinnati. The non-conference slate features a trip to Florida for three games, a handful of return contests from previous seasons and three non-Division I opponents, two of which are preseason exhibitions.

University of Evansville 2021-22 men’s basketball schedule

October

30 – Mount Saint Joseph, 1 p.m. (exhibition)

November

4 – Kentucky Wesleyan, 6 p.m. (exhibition)

9 – at Cincinnati

11 – IUPUI, 6 p.m.

13 – at Belmont, 4 p.m.

16 – DePauw, 6 p.m.

20 – Central Florida, 1 p.m.

22-24 – Gulf Coast Showcase (Rice, Vermont/Oakland, TBD)

28 – at Eastern Illinois, 1 p.m.

December

1 – Southern Illinois

4 – Tennessee Tech

8 – at Southeast Missouri

18 – Tennessee-Martin

21 – at Southern Methodist

January

2 – at Northern Iowa

5 – at Indiana State

8 – Illinois State

12 – at Bradley

15 – Drake

18 – Loyola

23 – at Illinois State

26 – Northern Iowa

29 – at Missouri State

February

1 – at Valparaiso

5 – Bradley

9 – Indiana State

12 – at Southern Illinois

16 – at Drake

19 – Valparaiso

23 – at Loyola

26 – Missouri State

Contact Chad Lindskog of the Courier & Press by email, clindskog@gannett.com, or on Twitter: @chadlindskog.