ROLLA, Mo. – A meeting with a perennial power in the NCAA Division II ranks in Las Vegas and a 20-game Great Lakes Valley Conference schedule are among the highlights of the Missouri S&T men's basketball schedule for the upcoming 2022-23 season.

The Miners, who finished 11-17 last season but return four of their top five scorers from that team, will have a busy opening to the season with four games in a span of seven days beginning with an exhibition contest at Missouri State on Wednesday, Nov. 9.  S&T will return to Springfield two days later for the Drury Midwest Regional Classic to take on Lake Superior State and Northwood.

S&T was scheduled to face Lake Superior State last season in Rolla, but the game was cancelled on account of health and safety protocols in the Laker program.  The teams will face off on Friday, Nov. 11, then the Miners take on Northwood, now of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference, the following afternoon.

The Miners end that early stretch of games with their home opener on Tuesday, Nov. 15 against Westminster at Gibson Arena; the Miners defeated the Blue Jays 94-57 in Rolla last season.  After that run of contests, S&T will be idle until the day prior to Thanksgiving (Nov. 23) when it hosts the University of Health Sciences & Pharmacy at Gibson Arena.

Great Lakes Valley Conference play begins for S&T right after Thanksgiving with three straight road games to begin the slate, as S&T will play 2020-21 GLVC regular season champion Southwest Baptist in Bolivar to open the conference schedule on Nov. 26, followed by games at Drury on Nov. 28 and NCAA Division II Midwest Regional finalist Missouri-St. Louis on Dec. 3.

The Miners will then play five of their next seven games at Gibson Arena, beginning with a non-conference game against Principia on Dec. 6 and first GLVC home contest on Dec. 10 against Illinois Springfield.  S&T also has home games during that seven-game stretch against Baptist Bible – who won the National Christian College Athletic Association Division I championship last season -- on Dec. 30, Maryville in the resumption of GLVC play on Jan. 5 and McKendree on Jan. 7.

In between those games and right before the NCAA's mandated winter break, the Miners will travel to Las Vegas for the Division II Holiday Hoops Classic to play two out-of-region contests.  The first will be on Saturday, Dec. 17 against Montana State Billings of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference and the other is against West Liberty, one of the top teams in Division II on an annual basis.

The Miners will face the Hilltoppers on Dec. 18, as they take on a squad that won the Mountain East Conference regular season and tournament titles last season before seeing their 15-game winning streak end with an overtime loss to West Virginia State in the first round of the NCAA Division II Tournament.  The Hilltoppers have averaged 27.6 wins over their last 17 full seasons, including five 30-win campaigns along the way.

Missouri S&T will also play GLVC home contests during the second semester against Truman State (Jan. 19), William Jewell (Jan. 28), Drury (Feb. 2), Southwest Baptist (Feb. 4), UMSL (Feb. 9), Lewis (Feb. 23) and Indianapolis (Feb. 25). Truman State was in the NCAA Midwest Regional along with UMSL last season.