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The 2021-2022 Aggie men’s basketball non-conference schedule seems to be rounding into form, according to a report from The D1 Docket. If you’re an Aggie hoops fan who has been promising your significant other a trip to Hawaii, you just might be in luck as the biggest attraction appears to be a trip to Hawaii for the Maui Invitational the week of Thanksgiving. The Maui field represents a high-caliber collection of teams including Butler, Chaminade, Houston, Notre Dame, Oregon, Saint Mary’s, and Wisconsin. The Aggies’ inclusion in the Maui tournament wasn’t a surprise as it was originally announced last May.
If this leaked version of the schedule is correct, the Aggies will play 12 non-conference games in the coming season, with seven being played at home in Reed Arena, four games in a neutral site or tournament, and one true road matchup.
The Ags open the season on November 10 with a home date against North Florida followed by another home game against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi just four days later. Houston Baptist will visit Reed Arena on November 17 in the Aggies’ final tuneup before they head off to the Pacific for three games in Maui.
After Thanksgiving, Buzz Williams and company will welcome his former team New Orleans to town on November 30. Then on December 12, the Aggies will run back their pseudo home-and-home neutral site matchup with Jamie Dixon’s TCU Horned Frogs at the Toyota Center in Houston. This game will be an especially interesting match-up after Texas A&M’s associate head coach Jamie McNeilly departed for TCU this offseason and took two players with him, including Emanuel Miller, the Aggies’ leader in scoring and rebounding last season.
Two days after their showdown in Houston, the Ags will welcome Tulane to Reed Arena for the first game of a home and home series that will see the Texas A&M traveling to New Orleans in 2022. The two-year matchup against the Green Wave of the American Athletic Conference effectively fills the hole in the schedule after the Aggies hit the two year off-cycle in the Big XII SEC Challenge. The Aggies will then hit the road for their only true road game of non-conference slate in Corvallis, Oregon to take on Oregon State on December 18. Wayne Tinkle’s Beavers are a familiar foe after facing Texas A&M in a home and home series in 2018 (Mode Center in Portland) and 2019 (College Station). The Aggies won both of those matchups, but the Beavers are a much improved squad coming off an Elite Eight appearance in 2021.
The Aggies will wrap up non-conference play with home games against Northwestern State on December 21 and Central Arkansas on December 28. These two contests will almost certainly be part of the annual Holiday Hoops promotion.
The other interesting component of the schedule released by D1 Docket is that it includes the guaranteed contract amounts for the buy-in games. Six of the seven true home games are buy-in games, with the Ags’ opponents being paid anywhere from $75,000 (Northwestern State) to $95,000 (North Florida) for the game. In total, the Texas A&M Athletics Department will pay $525,000 for those six home games.
2021-2022 Aggie Men’s Basketball Non-Conference Schedule
Wednesday, November 10 - vs. North Florida
Sunday, November 14 - vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
Wednesday, November 17 - vs. Houston Baptist
Monday, November 22 - @ Maui Invitational (Opponent TBD)
Tuesday, November 23 - @ Maui Invitational (Opponent TBD)
Wednesday, November 24 - @ Maui Invitational (Opponent TBD)
Tuesday, November 30 - vs. New Orleans
Sunday, December 12 - vs. TCU (Toyota Center, Houston)
Tuesday, December 14 - vs. Tulane
Saturday, December 18 - @ Oregon State
Tuesday, December 21 - vs. Northwestern State
Wednesday, December 29 - vs. Central Arkansas