ST. LOUIS — The Missouri State Bears will open Missouri Valley Conference play on December 30 at Illinois State and play host to five league opponents during the month of January as part of MSU’s 18-game MVC slate released by the league on Tuesday (Sept. 8).

Coach Paul Lusk begins his fifth season at the helm of Missouri State with five starters and seven lettermen returning to lead a squad that also includes a redshirt freshman and six newcomers.

Lusk’s squad opens Valley play on the road for the second year in a row and then begins the home portion of its league ledger at JQH Arena on Jan. 2 against Evansville. MSU then hosts 2015 NCAA Tournament club Northern Iowa on Jan. 6. The Bears will also host Wichita State (Jan. 13), Southern Illinois (Jan. 24) and Illinois State (Jan. 30) during the month of January.

The Bears will play eight conference games in February, including four at home. Bradley visits Springfield on Feb. 2 in the team’s only Tuesday game in Valley action. Indiana State comes to town on Feb. 13 as part of Hall of Fame weekend for Missouri State, while other home contests include Loyola on Feb. 21 and Drake on Feb. 24.

The Missouri Valley Conference Tournament returns to Scottrade Center in St. Louis, March 3-6.

In all, the Bears will play three Saturday home conference games this season, two on Sunday, one on Tuesday and three on Wednesday — all during January and February. Home start times will be finalized in the coming weeks and posted to the schedule page at MissouriStateBears.com/mensbasketball.

MSU previously released its 12-game non-conference schedule that includes up to seven opponents that finished in the top 60 of the NCAA’s RPI last season with six NCAA Tournament foes and nine postseason qualifiers in all.

MSU season tickets are on sale now by calling (417) 836-8899 or logging on to www.MissouriStateBears.com/tickets for more information. Single-game tickets will go on sale at a later date.

— MSU Athletics —