The defending Sun Belt Champions have released their non-conference schedule for the 2023-2024 basketball season.
The Louisiana Ragin Cajuns men’s basketball team will open their season on November 6 with Youngstown State coming to the Cajundome. The Penguins won 24 games last year and played in the NIT. The unofficial start of the season is October 30 when UT-Tyler will come to Lafayette for a exhibition. Then a few days after the Youngstown State matchup, Louisiana will be on the road to face Toldeo in the MAC-SBC Challenge (Nov 11).
Bob Marlin’s team will host Louisiana Christian (Nov 15) before hitting the road again for the Gulf Coast Showcase in Fort Myers, Florida beginning on November 20 against Wright State. Louisiana will then return to Cajun Country to host Loyola-New Orleans (Nov 27).
Samford will be the next opponent on the schedule, as the Cajuns will travel to Birmingham to battle with the Bulldogs (Nov 30). After the break for finals, Louisiana will take on Louisiana Tech (Dec 9) and McNeese (Dec 17) in a pair of in-state road games. Sandwiched between those in-state games is a home date with Eastern Kentucky (Dec 13). The Colonels reached the finals of the College Basketball Invitational a year ago. The non-conference schedule will conclude with Rice on December 22.
NET rankings will decide the second leg of the MAC-SBC Challenge later in the season.