Lions to play St. Louis University in exhibition; Season schedule released

Editor’s note: Story by Jonathan Gipson, sports information director for the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith. The season schedules for the Lions and Lady Lions basketball teams are at the end of this post.

University of Arkansas at Fort Smith men’s basketball coach Josh Newman has put together arguably one of the most difficult non-conference schedules of any NCAA Division II team.

Newman has announced that the Lions will play an exhibition game against the St. Louis University Billikens at 8 p.m. on Oct. 30 at Chaifetz Arena in St. Louis, Mo. It is the last of six exhibition games for the Lions.

“We are extremely proud to announce we have finally completed our 2009-2010 schedule. We are very fortunate to have six Division I teams on our schedule, including our most recent addition of St. Louis University,” said Newman, who begins his fourth season at UAFS.

“We are very appreciative of coach Rick Majerus and associate head coach Porter Moser for scheduling an exhibition game with us. Playing against a talented St. Louis team will be an excellent opportunity for our team to address its strengths and weaknesses before we officially open the season.”

UAFS, which will compete in the Heartland Conference, also will play exhibition games against the University of Nebraska (Nov. 6), the University of Massachusetts (Nov. 21), Troy University (Nov. 27), Georgia Southern University (Nov. 28) and Valparaiso University (Nov. 29) – the last four of which will be a part of the prestigious Legends Classic.

“We are trying to play the most aggressive non-conference schedule we can so that it will prepare us for the Heartland Conference and our arrival on the NCAA level. We want to make some noise across the country and let everyone know that UA Fort Smith is now on the NCAA level,” Newman said.

Continuing, Newman noted: “With six Division I games on our schedule, we might very well have the toughest schedule in all of Division II. No other Division II program in the country has as many Division I games as the Lions. Our remaining non-conference schedule is demanding as well with a home-and-home series with UA Monticello and road games against Southwestern Oklahoma State and Missouri Southern.”

UAFS will host NCAA Division III University of the Ozarks at 7 p.m. on Nov. 17 in its home opener at the Stubblefield Center. It will be the first of 11 home games for the Lions this season.