APPLETON, Wis. -- The Lawrence University men's basketball team will open the 2007-08 season with an exhibition game at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay on Nov. 5.
Tip-off against the Phoenix is set for 7:05 p.m. at the Resch Center. Ticket information will be released when it becomes available.
"This is a great opportunity for the players," Lawrence head coach Joel DePagter said. "For my first game as a head coach to be against a Division I opponent in the Resch Center is pretty amazing. We want to thank (UWGB head coach) Tod Kowalczyk and the entire Green Bay staff for this opportunity."
This is Lawrence's third exhibition game in four seasons against a Division I opponent from Wisconsin. The Vikings lost to UW-Milwaukee 89-55 on Nov. 10, 2004, and lost to the University of Wisconsin 81-46 on Nov. 14, 2005.
Lawrence returns 17 letterwinners from a team that finished 13-10 a season ago, and the Vikings are led by All-Midwest Conference selections Andy Hurley and Ryan Kroeger. Hurley, a senior forward from Kimberly, Wis., was second on the team in scoring at 13.9 points per game and led the team at 8.5 rebounds per game. A junior guard from Glendale, Wis., Kroeger led the team in scoring at 16.1 points per game and averaged 3.0 rebounds per game. He shot 50 percent from the floor, including 43 percent on 3-pointers.
The Phoenix finished 18-15 a season ago and returns 11 players from that squad, including junior forward Mike Schachtner, an All-Horizon League selection and ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American.
Lawrence will open its regular season Nov. 16 when it plays at Dominican (Ill.) University.