With the regular season fast approaching, the University of La Verne men's basketball team preps for the 2010-11 campaign with a pair of exhibition games over the next seven days.
The Leopards will hit the road to face Division I Pepperdine University this Friday at 7:00 pm in Malibu, and will host the Afghanistan National Team next Monday at Frantz Athletic Court in a 7:30 pm tip-off.
La Verne will begin its regular season on Tuesday, November 16 at Chapman University in Orange.
The 2010-11 schedule features 16 home games, including a five-game homestand which concludes on January 8 against Whittier in the SCIAC opener.
The Leopards will twice battle Chapman, a 2010 NCAA Tournament participant, during the non-conference portion of the schedule. The Panthers come to La Verne for a December 8 matchup. Other Division III non-conference opponents include Oglethorpe (Dec. 19), George Fox (Dec. 29), Marietta (Dec. 30) and Concordia (Jan. 3).
Among the non-conference games includes a Division I opponent in the University of San Diego. The Leopards face the Toreros on Dec. 13 in San Diego.
"We will definitely be tested during the early portion of the schedule," said head coach Richard Reed, who begins his fourth season at the helm of the Leopard program. "We will be challenged early on but we hope to ready ourselves for the start of conference play."
Other SCIAC home games include Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (Jan. 26), Cal Lutheran (Feb. 5), Occidental (Feb. 9), Pomona-Pitzer (Feb. 16) and Redlands (Feb. 22).
