2017-18 Schedule

SAN FRANCISCO – Academy of Art University women's basketball and head coach LaNay Larson have officially released the Urban Knights' 2017-18 schedule. The 28-game regular season slate features a tournament ART U will host to open the year in mid-November, another in Washington, and collection of matchups with Pacific West Conference competition that sent three teams to the NCAA Division II Tournament last year. 

After starting the year with an exhibition game against NCAA Division I UC Davis on Nov. 3, Academy of Art will welcome fellow conference member Holy Names as well as Cal State East Bay and Montana State Billings to Kezar Pavilion for the West Region Tip Off Classic on Nov. 10-11.

The Knights will face MSUB of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference on day one at 5 p.m. then CSUEB of the California Collegiate Athletic Association in the tourney's four-game finale on Nov. 11 at 3 p.m. After the Pioneers won the CCAA Tournament title in 2017, they finished with a 22-9 overall record, falling to Western Washington in the NCAA Tourney.

"We feel very fortunate to be able to host the West Region Tip Off against two quality opponents in Cal State East Bay and Montana State Billings," said Larson. "They both have a great history of being very competitive in the CCAA and GNAC."

Continuing non-conference play, ART U heads out on the road to take on Cal State Monterey Bay (Nov. 14) then crosses the boarder to Canada to play Simon Fraser (Nov. 22). En route to its 26-8 overall record, Simon Fraser defeated two higher seeds (UC San Diego & Alaska Anchorage) in the NCAA Tournament, but was eliminated by CBU in the end.

Before returning to the Bay Area, Academy of Art heads south to Washington to face Saint Martin's (Nov. 24) and Western Washington (Nov. 25), the host of the Linda Goodrich Classic. The Vikings, who have faced the Knights just once prior to this meeting in the 2013 NCAA Tournament, went 26-6 last year and were ultimately finished by the Lancers as well.

"The trip up to Simon Fraser followed by the tournament at Western Washington will be an extremely challenging week that will give us a great look at where we are at while competing on the road against two more teams that qualified for the NCAA tournament last year."

The start of PacWest play comes Nov. 30 in Azusa Pacific where Academy of Art defeated the Cougars 76-68 last year. From there, the Knights travel to Dixie State Dec. 2 where they will look to improve upon their seven-game win streak against the Trailblazers dating back to 2014.

Academy of Art then hosts Notre Dame de Namur on Dec. 6 for its first conference home game and faces Holy Names in Oakland on Dec. 10. ART U is collectively 19-8 against the Argonauts and Hawks historically. Non-conference action will be closed out with back-to-back home contests against Central Washington (Dec. 12) and Stanislaus State (Dec. 15). Both the Wildcats and Warriors made their respective conference tournaments in 2017.

"I feel like we have once again put together a very challenging non-conference schedule that will prepare us for the goals that we have set entering the PacWest portion of the season," said Larson.

December finishes with the Knights hosting Point Loma (Dec. 18) and making a trip to Fresno Pacific (Dec. 30) before a brief Hawaiian road swing to start 2018. On Jan. 3, Academy of Art meets Hawaii Pacific, a team that finished third in the PacWest standings and made the NCAA Tournament last year, in Honolulu then hits the Big Island to take on UH Hilo (Jan. 5).

The next six ART U games will be in the Bay Area and five will be at home. Beginning with Dominican on Jan. 10, the Knights host four teams in total including Holy Names (Jan. 13), Chaminade (Jan. 15), Dixie State (Jan. 20), and new PacWest member Biola (Jan. 29). A road rematch with Dominican mixes in on Jan. 27.

A brief Southern California trip then takes Academy of Art first to Point Loma in San Diego on Feb. 3 then to defending conference champion and NCAA Final Four qualifier California Baptist on Feb. 5. The Lancers were ranked No. 11 when ART U faced them last year and few will forget the teams' three meetings in a three-week span back in 2016 when the Knights last appeared in the NCAA Tournament.

Three of Academy of Art's final four regular season games will be at home starting with a rematch against Hawaii Pacific on Feb. 12. ART U heads south to Belmont for an afternoon matchup with NDNU on Feb. 17, but remains in San Francisco for the final week which features Fresno Pacific (Feb. 22) and Concordia (Feb. 24).

This year's PacWest Conference Championship Tournament is set to be hosted by California Baptist on Mar. 1-3.
 
"I think from top to bottom the PacWest has improved immensely and we know that each game we will have to come ready to play," said Larson. "I feel like our goal is always to win a PacWest Championship, but we know that will take a lot of work and focus as there are many teams that had success this past year and return very talented rosters."