Wake Forest Athletics
Deacs Release 2016-17 Nonconference Schedule
9/6/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
2016-17 Schedule
By Wake Forest Athletic Communications (@WakeWBB)
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- Wake Forest women's basketball head coach Jen Hoover announced her team's nonconference schedule for the upcoming 2016-17 basketball season on Tuesday. The slate features six teams that participated in either the NCAA Tournament or WNIT, all of which finished in the Top 100 nationally in RPI.
"As we try to do every year, this schedule was built to challenge us early and give us an opportunity to grow together as a team, gain experience and prepare for the always competitive ACC," Hoover said. "Our nonconference slate includes multiple postseason participants from a season ago that will allow us to vastly help us prepare for another postseason appearance this coming March."
The Deacs are set to open the season on Friday, Nov. 11, when they play host to Navy in the first all-time meeting between the two teams. The contest is part of a doubleheader with the men's basketball team matching up against Radford later in the day. Two days later, the Deacs will travel to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to take on SEC rival LSU. A season ago, Wake Forest topped the Tigers 60-57 at LJVM Coliseum on opening night thanks to Ariel Stephenson's 21 points in her first collegiate game.
After opening weekend, the Deacs will be at home three games in a row against Rutgers (Nov. 17), Eastern Michigan (Nov. 20) and Furman (Nov. 23). The matchups against Rutgers and Eastern Michigan -- two teams that went to the WNIT last season -- will be the first all-time for the Deacs and the game against Furman will be the first since December 22, 2010, marking the 10th meeting between the two sides.
Following Thanksgiving, Wake Forest goes on the road for three-straight against Elon (Nov. 26), Illinois (Nov. 30) and Seton Hall (Dec. 4). Wake Forest has not played Elon, a WNIT team from a season ago, since 1980, but the Deacs have met Illinois twice before in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, falling in both 2009 and 2012. To open December, Wake Forest's trip to Seton Hall will mark the third trip to New Jersey for the Deacs to take on the Pirates. All-time against Seton Hall, the Demon Deacons hold a 2-1 record with the last meeting coming in December 2012.
With fall semester exams on the horizon, the Deacs will come home for two more games against Xavier (Dec. 8) and Radford (Dec. 10) before breaking for finals. Out of the break, Wake Forest will host Samford (Dec. 18) before closing the nonconference home slate on Dec. 21 with School Day against VCU. Last season on School Day, Wake Forest broke the program's attendance record with 8,849 fans in attendance to see the Deacs top Jacksonville 57-51.
"The annual School Day game has become one of our favorite traditions year after year," Hoover said. "We look forward to that game on the schedule because we really enjoy the overwhelming support our team gets from the local community and school kids. It's amazing the energy each person brings to the Coliseum and we definitely feed off of that boost."
To close the nonconference slate, Wake Forest will make a trip to Harrisonburg, Virginia, to take on James Madison. Last time the two teams met in the 2012 WNIT, Wake Forest dropped a tough game by the score of 84-76 in overtime at JMU in the second round of the tournament.
The 2016-17 ACC slate will complete Wake Forest's schedule when it is released at a later date. TV networks for select games will also be announced at a later date.
