Iowa State men’s basketball: 2014-15 non-conference schedule released

The entire non-conference schedule for Iowa State men’s basketball next season has been released.

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Cyclone Sidebar released the slate today with times and TV assignments to be released at a later date.

• Friday, Nov. 7 – vs Viterbo (WI) (Exhibition)
• Friday, Nov. 14 – vs Oakland (Season opener)
• Monday, Nov. 17 – vs Georgia State
• Monday, Nov. 24 and Tuesday, Nov. 25 – CBE Hall of Fame Classic (at Kansas City, MO)
  Potential matchups: vs Alabama, Arizona State, Maryland
• Tuesday, Dec. 2 – vs Lamar
• Thursday, Dec. 4 – vs Arkansas (SEC/Big 12 Challenge)
• Tuesday, Dec. 9 – Missouri-Kansas City
• Friday, Dec. 12 – at Iowa
• Sunday, Dec. 14 – vs Southern
• Saturday, Dec. 20 – vs Drake (Hy-Vee Big Four Classic at Des Moines, IA)
• Wednesday, Dec. 31 – vs Mississippi Valley State
• Saturday, Jan. 3 – vs South Carolina (at Brooklyn, NY)

Breaking down the schedule, Iowa State has never played against six of these teams and if you take off Iowa and Drake, the Cyclones are 14-2 all-time against the rest of the competition. By themselves, Iowa State holds a combined 150-89 all-time record against the Hawkeyes and Bulldogs.

Dec 13, 2013; Ames, IA, USA; Iowa State Cyclones guard Mont Morris (11) drives the lane for two points against the Iowa Hawkeyes at James H. Hilton Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Reese Strickland-USA TODAY Sports

The only team that Iowa State has played and not beaten on this schedule is Alabama, who they’ve played once. Remember, Iowa State will play just two of the three teams in that group at the CBE Classic.

Guessing TV assignments are pretty easy again this year. The CBE Classic games should be on ESPN2 as they generally are, the home game against Arkansas will be on an ESPN network as all SEC/Big 12 Challenge games are, the Iowa game will be on an ESPN network or Big Ten Network, I assume the game against USC in Brooklyn will be on an ESPN network, and everything else will be on Cyclones.tv/Mediacom.

It’s exciting to be playing in the CBE Classic as the holiday tournaments the Cyclones play in are improving each year. Especially since it will be played at the Sprint Center, where Iowa State fans call “Hilton South” and it was the home of where the Cyclones won the Big 12 title last year.

Otherwise, this schedule lacks the flair from last season and is certainly much easier. There are only two times where Iowa State has to leave their home state and none of those games are played in a hostile environment. Hell, I’d say games in Des Moines are more of a road game than Kansas City.

The lone true road game is at Iowa, which them and Drake are probably going to be the Cyclones’ biggest threats to keep them from a goose egg in the loss column in non-conference play for a second straight year.