Southeast Missouri State releases 2015-16 basketball schedules

Editor's note: The spelling of Rekha Patterson's name was corrected in this story.

The Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team will open its 2015-16 regular season under first-year coach Rick Ray with four road games beginning at Dayton on Nov. 13.

The women's team will play their first regular-season game under new coach Rekha Patterson at Saint Louis on Nov. 14.

Southeast announced both the men's and women's 29-game regular-season schedules Tuesday morning.

Ray will coach his first regular-season game in the Show Me Center on Nov. 28 when the Redhawks host Loyola Marymount.

The Redhawks travel to Southern Illinois and Memphis on Dec. 2 and 5, respectively -- part of eight non-conference road games -- before returning home to host Bowling Green (Dec. 8) and Ole Miss (Dec. 12).

Missouri State (Dec. 22) is among the non-conference road games.

"I would venture to say that our non-conference schedule will be the most challenging of any Ohio Valley Conference institution," Ray said in a press release. "Not only are we playing quality opponents, but we are playing the majority of those opponents on the road in very tough environments. With our eight newcomers, a difficult non-conference schedule should prepare us for the rigors of OVC competition."

The Redhawks will have 14 home games, 15 road games and one exhibition contest.

The Southeast women will play 16 games on the road and 13 at home, including their first Show Me Center appearance Nov. 16 against Harris-Stowe.

The Redhawks begin a six-game road swing at Western Illinois on Nov. 24. They will compete in the UTEP Thanksgiving Class on Nov. 27 and 28 in El Paso, Texas, then will play at Missouri (Dec. 2), Wichita State (Dec. 4) and Lipscomb (Dec. 8).

Both the Southeast men and women open their 16-game Ohio Valley Conference schedules with home games against Belmont on Dec. 31.

The Southeast women's team has two home exhibition games scheduled, Nov. 1 against Oakland City and Nov. 4 against Lindenwood-Belleville. The men's lone exhibition game is at home against Missouri S&T on Nov. 7.

The OVC tournament is slated for March 2 to 5 in Nashville, Tennessee.