Mercer releases 2016-17 men’s basketball schedule

MACON, Georgia (MERCER ATHLETICS) – Mercer head men’s basketball coach Bob Hoffman announced the complete 2016-17 schedule on Thursday, revealing a 31-game slate headlined by the first annual Savannah Invitational and 15 home games at Hawkins Arena.

“I think the non-conference schedule might be one of the toughest we have had since I’ve been here,” Hoffman said. “We are playing tremendous teams with great talent. We play a lot of variety from multiple conferences so we should be stretched in every sense of the word.”

After joining for the annual intrasquad Orange and White scrimmage on Nov. 6, the Bears host Brewton-Parker in the season opener on Nov. 11. Mercer is right back in action with a road trip to Jacksonville, Fla., for a tough early season test against Florida on Sunday, Nov. 13.

The Orange and Black then returns to Hawkins Arena for a pair of games against Georgia Southern (Nov. 20) and Radford (Nov. 22) that will serve as the first two matchups in the Savannah Invitational.

Mercer then heads to Savannah to play the remaining two games of the invite at the Savannah Civic Center. The Bears square off against East Carolina on Nov. 25. The winner of the game will face the winner of the Akron vs. Air Force game that follows on Saturday, Nov. 26 and the losers of the two contests will face each other the same day.

“I think playing in the Savannah Invitational will be great,” Hoffman said. “The fun thing for us as a team is we have a campus in Savannah, so we’re hoping to get a great crowd out to support our guys.

“Savannah is a fantastic city that is beautiful. The opportunity to play two games over Thanksgiving break should be a lot of fun for our guys. We will get to play some quality teams starting with East Carolina.”

The Orange and Black returns to Macon for a showdown against Davidson (Nov. 29) in a premier non-conference matchup. After the game with the Wildcats, Mercer heads north to square off against the Atlantic 10’s George Mason (Dec. 3) in Fairfax, Va.

The Bears will be back home to play Oglethorpe (Dec. 7) before heading back on the road to play two Power Five schools in Clemson (Dec. 10) and Auburn (Dec. 18). The meeting with Clemson will be the first since the 1994-95 season. Mercer and Auburn are familiar foes, as the two sides met in a highly contested game last season.

The Orange and Black will host La Salle a few days before Christmas on Dec. 22 and then make the short trip to Kennesaw State on Dec. 28 for an intrastate matchup with the Owls to conclude the non-conference schedule.

The finals 18 games of the Mercer’s regular season schedule are against SoCon opponents, including nine at Hawkins Arena. The 18-game SoCon schedule leads up to the SoCon Tournament, to be played March 3-6 at the U.S. Cellular Center in Asheville, N.C.

Game times for each contest will be announced on later dates. Click here to view the online schedule.

Stay tuned to @MercerMBB on Twitter for updates throughout the fall and upcoming season.