Summit League Release | Season Ticket Deposits | Summit League Schedule

ELMHURST, Ill. - The University of Denver men's basketball team will open Summit League play on Wednesday, Dec. 28 at Magness Arena against the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles the league announced Wednesday.

DU will play its first game of 2017 when it hosts South Dakota on Wednesday, Jan. 4.

"I'm really excited about the competition aspect of our schedule," head coach Rodney Billups said. "Starting at home and finishing on the road will be a challenge. Our guys understand how good this league is and our staff understands how well-rounded our league is. It's going to be an exciting year for us."

The Pioneers are led by Billups, who will enter his first season at the helm.

Denver will open league play with four of its first five games at home. The Pioneers' first road game will be at 2015-16 co-regular season champion IPFW (Jan. 7). DU returns home to take on Western Illinois (Jan. 11) and North Dakota State (Jan. 14)

The schedule is set up in a double round-robin format, meaning all nine Summit League teams will play each other at home and on the road. For the 2016-17 season, the Summit League schedule consists of 16 games. The Pioneers will close out regular season league play with three of its final five on the road. They will travel to North Dakota State (Feb. 11), Western Illinois (Feb. 14), come home for two games against IUPUI (Feb. 19) and their regular season home finale against Omaha (Feb. 22) and finish the regular season at defending Summit League Tournament Champion South Dakota State (Feb. 25).

The Summit League Tournament will be held March 4-7 at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center in Sioux Falls, S.D. The Crimson and Gold's non-league schedule and times for all games will be announced at a later date.

Returning to Denver are sophomore's Joe Rosga (St. Paul, Minn.), Thomas Neff (Arvada, Colo.), C.J. Bobbitt (Harker Heights, Texas), Bradley George (Houston, Texas), Jake Holtzmann (Parker, Colo.), Abiola Akintola (Melbourne, Australia), Emil Knighton (Parker, Colo.) and Jacob Lunsford (Clayton, Calif.).

The junior class consists of Jake Pemberton (Highlands Ranch, Colo.), Daniel Amigo (El Paso, Texas), Christian Mackey (Kirtland, N.M.) and redshirt junior Duke Douglas (New Orleans, La.).

The lone senior will be walk-on Josiah Dunn (Littleton, Colo.).

They will be joined by incoming freshmen Ade Murkey (Minneapolis, Minn.), Luke Neff (Arvada, Colo.) and Jake Krafka (Austin, Texas).

Tickets: Fans who are interested in men's basketball season tickets for the 2016-17 Denver Pioneers season please call the Pioneer Basketball Ticket Hotline at (303) 871-HOOP or click here for more information.

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