Moon Township, Pa. – The RMU men's basketball team announced its 2020-21 schedule Wednesday, which includes non-conference home games against Point Park and Florida Gulf Coast at the UPMC Events Center as well as a full slate of contests in the program's first season in the Horizon League.

The Colonials will open their 45th season of NCAA Division I basketball Wednesday, Nov. 25, by hosting Point Park at the UPMC Events Center. RMU will also host Florida Gulf Coast (Dec. 2) at home as part of its non-conference slate and will visit Central Michigan (Nov. 28), Saint Francis U (Dec. 5) and West Virginia (Dec. 9).

RMU's maiden voyage in the Horizon League will begin at the UPMC Events Center, as the Colonials host Cleveland State Saturday, Dec. 19, and Sunday, Dec. 20. Tip times will be announced at a later date. Members of the Horizon League will play one conference opponent twice each week, with games taking place on consecutive days at the same location. Institutions will have five home weekends and five road weekends. 

The 2020-21 league schedule for RMU also includes home series against Milwaukee (Jan. 1-2), Northern Kentucky (Jan. 22-23), Youngstown State (Feb. 5-6) and Oakland (Feb. 12-13) and road series against IPFW (Dec. 26-27), IUPUI (Jan. 8-9), UIC (Jan. 15-16), Wright State (Jan. 29-30) and Detroit Mercy (Feb. 19-20).

"We're excited about the schedule for the 2020-21 season," RMU Pat Gallagher Head Coach Andrew Toole said. "I know our student-athletes can't wait to go out and compete against quality non-conference opponents in preparation for our first season in the Horizon League. It's a challenging schedule, and I'm looking forward to watching our team develop."

Guided by the principle of safety, the Horizon League scheduling model was developed in consultation with the league's Return To Safe Play work group, athletic directors, senior woman administrators (SWA) and faculty athletic representatives, with additional feedback provided by the Horizon League men's and women's basketball coaches and student-athlete captain's council.

RELATED: RMU 2020-21 Schedule

In addition, the Horizon League Board of Directors is overseeing league-wide safety protocols focused on consistency and clarity for all league competition. As part of these protocols, the Board of Directors determined that due to the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, all Horizon League games in the month of December will be played without fans. Team pass lists and complimentary tickets will also be prohibited in December. The Board of Directors will re-evaluate changes at a later date. 

RMU plans to open the 2020-21 season with a limited number of fans for its two non-conference games at the UPMC Events Center. RMU will continue to be guided by its top priority, which is the health, safety and well-being of student-athletes, coaches, staff and fans based on the evolving recommendations and requirements of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), local and state, campus and Horizon League safety protocols.

Based on current capacity limits at the UPMC Events Center, attendance for basketball will be limited to season ticket holders only, and no single-game tickets will be offered for sale. Season ticket holders who have already renewed or purchased a season ticket package for 2020-21 will be contacted shortly regarding their ticket account to discuss socially distanced seat locations and options for the 2020-21 season. A limited number of additional season tickets will be available starting Friday, Nov. 6. For future conference games that are played without fans, the season ticket cost will be prorated, and season ticket holders will have several options, including opting-out and donating the balance to support RMU Athletics or rolling the funds over toward the 2021-22 season. For more information on season tickets, please visit the RMU Ticketing FAQ page.

Stay connected and #RMUnite with RMU basketball via the RMU Gameday App, which features live audio of all of the 2020-21 games in addition to all things RMU Athletics, as well as through video streaming through ESPN+.

Under the guidance of Toole, who enters his 11th season at the helm of the Colonials in 2020-21 and 14th season overall with the program, RMU returns three starters and five letterwinners for the 2020-21 campaign. Returning as starters are senior guard Jon Williams, senior forward AJ Bramah and junior guard Dante Treacy.

The Colonials have reached the 20-win plateau five times in 10 seasons under Toole, who has posted an overall record of 188-154 (.550) during his tenure. RMU has qualified for a national postseason tournament six times under Toole, including two automatic bids (2015, 2020) to the NCAA Tournament. The Colonials have also made two appearances in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) (2013, 2014) and the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT) (2012, 2019).

Over the last 13 years, RMU has posted a record of 261-185 (.585), an average of 20.1 wins per season. In July of 2020, the Colonials joined the Horizon League in 10 of its 16 intercollegiate athletic programs.

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