DEFENDING CHAMPS RELEASE SCHEDULE
September 19, 2006

FORT WORTH, TX:  The defending NAIA Division I National Champion Texas Wesleyan University men’s basketball team has released its schedule for the 2006-07 season.

The schedule features exhibition games against NCAA Division I Southland Conference members UT-Arlington and UT-San Antonio.  After an exhibition at UT-Arlington on November 2, the regular season opens on November 4, when the Rams host Dallas Christian College at the Sid Richardson Center.  Game time for the season opener is set for 7:30 p.m.

The Rams’ non-conference schedule has several interesting match ups including a rematch of last year’s national championship game.  The Rams will travel to Oklahoma City to take on Oklahoma City University on December 2.  Texas Wesleyan took a 67-65 win over the Stars in last year’s national final.

Texas Wesleyan will also play a pair of games against Oklahoma Christian University.  The Eagles were ranked as high as second in the nation last year.  After going 0-2 in the regular season against Oklahoma Christian, Texas Wesleyan defeated the Eagles 67-62 in the NAIA’s Sweet 16.

LSU-Shreveport, which was ranked second in the final regular season poll last season, will meet Texas Wesleyan in Waxahachie, TX, at Southwestern Assemblies of God University’s Pepsi Classic on November 18.

The Rams will host a Thanksgiving Classic this season.  The tournament features three NAIA Division I teams and one Division II team as well as three national tournament qualifiers from last season.  The Westmont College Warriors are members of the Golden State Athletic Conference (GSAC) in California.  Meanwhile the University of Sioux Falls Cougars won their first Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) championship last season and earned a birth as the 12th seed in the NAIA Division II National Tournament.  Red River Athletic Conference member Southwestern Assemblies of God University rounds out the field.  The Lions made their first appearance in the national tournament, losing a hard-fought game to top ranked Mountain State, last season after finishing second in the conference tournament.

The tournament will mark the first ever meeting between Texas Wesleyan and both Westmont and Sioux Falls.  Westmont went 18-13 last season and 11-9 in the GSAC.  Sioux Falls finished at 22-9 overall and 15-3 in the GPAC.

Texas Wesleyan is coming off a remarkable season that saw the Rams go 25-9 overall and 16-4 in the RRAC.  They posted a 10-game winning streak and a 76-69 win over defending Southland Conference champion Southeastern Louisiana.  The Rams finished the season by rattling off five wins over higher ranked teams in a span of six days to capture the school’s first national title in basketball.