MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – Fresh off one of the winningest seasons in program history, MTSU Women’s Basketball Head Coach Rick Insell has announced a challenging schedule for the 2022-23 season.
Insell, entering his 18th season at his alma mater, believes the only way a team can truly improve is to face great tasks which this schedule affords.
“In order to compete for a conference championship and be in position to do the things we want to do in the postseason, I believe you have to present your team with challenges along the way,” Insell said. “We have a very tough non-conference schedule, along with the always tough Conference USA schedule. This will only make us a better team. Scheduling is not easy, but (Assistant Coach) Matt (Insell) did a good of putting this schedule together. I think it’s good for our team, and I believe it’s one our fans will enjoy.”
The Lady Raiders return four starters and nine letterwinners from last season’s 28-win team that reached the semifinals of the WNIT. The 28 wins were fourth most in program history.
Seven of the nine teams on this year’s non-conference schedule played in either the NCAA or WNIT Tournaments. Four of the nine teams won their respective conference championships.
Six of the nine teams on the non-conference schedule were in the Top 100 NCAA Net Power Rankings, and all nine were ranked in the Top 150.
Highlighting the home portion of the non-conference schedule is the Nov. 16 home opener against Belmont, which narrowly missed an upset of Tennessee in the first round of the NCAA Tournament last season. Perennial power Louisville will visit Murphy Center Dec. 4. Louisville finished last season with a loss in the Final Four to eventual national champion South Carolina.
Longtime rival Tennessee Tech will play at Murphy Center Dec. 1. It will be the Murfreesboro Education Day game, which returns for the first time since 2019. The Lady Raiders will also begin a home-and-home series with Houston, which begins in Murfreesboro, Dec. 14.
MTSU will open the season on the road with back-to-back road games against Mercer (Nov. 7) and Southern Illinois (Nov. 12). The Lady Raiders will also start a home-and-home series against in-state foe Memphis. It marks the first time the Tigers have appeared on the schedule in 10 years. The series begins in Memphis, Dec. 10.
The Lady Raiders will also play in the Las Vegas Invitational during the Thanksgiving holiday. MTSU will play Texas Tech in its first game (Nov. 25), before facing Missouri State (Nov. 26).
The C-USA schedule will begin Dec. 20 with a road game at Rice, before returning home to play defending champion Charlotte, Dec. 29. The calendar year will close with a road date at WKU New Years Eve.
This season every C-USA team will play a home-and-home against each other.
Game times, broadcast schedules and ticket information will be released at a later date.
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