OVC announces 2020-2021 basketball schedules

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) - The Ohio Valley Conference has announced its men’s and women’s basketball conference schedules for the 2020-21 season.

This year’s schedules increased from 18 to 20 conference games to help address issues dealing with the delayed start to the season. Teams will play every OVC team once and nine schools twice.

As for flexibility with their non-conference schedules, schools were given discretion to schedule their two games with their “travel partner” separate from the remainder of the conference schedule. One of those two games must be scheduled before the holiday break and the other can be scheduled any time during the basketball season.

“Our athletics directors explored a number of scheduling options designed to address the scheduling challenges we may face due to the pandemic,” said OVC Commissioner Beth DeBauche. "Ultimately, they decided to adopt schedules that increase the opportunity for conference competition while staying true to our traditional conference scheduling structure and pattern.

“Our intention is to play as close to a typical conference schedule as possible, but we stand ready to address scheduling challenges and modify the schedule during the course of the season should the facts warrant. I am grateful to our OVC leaders for their dedication, foresight and commitment to our student-athletes.”

The 2021 OVC Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournament is scheduled for March 3-6 at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana. It marks the fourth year in a row the event will be held at the venue.

The EKU women’s team released its non-conference schedule on Monday. The men’s team’s non-conference slate will be announced in the coming days.

2020-21 OVC Women’s Basketball Schedule

Dec 5 (Sat) – MOREHEAD STATE

Dec 11 (Fri) – at Morehead State

Dec 30 (Wed) – EASTERN ILLINOIS

Jan 2 (Sat) – at Austin Peay

Jan 7 (Thu) – JACKSONVILLE STATE

Jan 9 (Sat) – TENNESSEE TECH

Jan 14 (Thu) – at SIUE

Jan 16 (Sat) – at Eastern Illinois

Jan 21 (Thu) – UT MARTIN

Jan 23 (Sat) – SOUTHEAST MISSOURI

Jan 28 (Thu) – at Tennessee Tech

Jan 30 (Sat) – at Jacksonville State

Feb 4 (Thu) – AUSTIN PEAY

Feb 6 (Sat) – MURRAY STATE

Feb 11 (Thu) – at Belmont

Feb 13 (Sat) – at Tennessee State

Feb 18 (Thu) – at Southeast Missouri

Feb 20 (Sat) – at UT Martin

Feb 25 (Thu) – BELMONT

Feb 27 (Sat) – TENNESSEE STATE

2020-21 OVC Men’s Basketball Schedule

Dec 7 (Mon) – MOREHEAD STATE

Dec 14 (Mon) – at Morehead State