CSU's men's basketball team will play nonconference games in Jamaica in November and face teams from Power 5 conferences for three straight games in early December.

The Rams released their 2017-18 schedule Thursday, and it includes five nonconference games against teams that went to the NCAA tournament a year ago, including a Dec. 8 game at Final Four participant Oregon.

"This is definitely a challenging schedule for our program," coach Larry Eustachy said in a news release. "… It also will help us really prepare for the rigors of conference play. We will learn about our team in the early stages of the season and see how they develop over the year."

The Rams will play a home game Dec. 2 against the University of Colorado and visit Arkansas on Dec. 5. They've also got games scheduled in Montego Bay, Jamaica, on Nov. 17 against Tulane and Nov. 19 vs. Florida State in the final two games of the inaugural Jamaica Classic. Colorado State University opens that tournament at home with a Nov. 14 game against Winthrop. A Nov. 24 home game against Northwestern State also is being played as part of that tournament.

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Florida State and Winthrop both played in the NCAA tournament a year ago, as did Arkansas and New Mexico State, a team the Rams will face in a road game Nov. 22. The sixth NCAA tournament team on the Rams' schedule is Nevada, the defending Mountain West regular-season and tournament champion. CSU will face the Wolf Pack on Feb. 3 in Fort Collins and Feb. 25 in Reno.

CSU will play Colorado Mesa in a Nov. 3 exhibition game, then host Sacramento State a week later in the regular-season opener.

The Rams will also play nonconference home games against Texas State, Arkansas-Fort Smith and Long Beach State.

They'll open the Mountain West season with back-to-back road games Dec. 27 at Boise State and Dec. 30 at San Jose State. The first home game in MW play is Jan. 3 against San Diego State. Some conference games scheduled for Wednesday could be moved to Tuesdays and some Saturday games to Sundays to accommodate TV and digital network broadcasts

The unbalanced conference schedule has CSU playing just one game this season against Utah State and UNLV, as the Rams face the Aggies in a Jan. 10 game in Logan, Utah, and the Runnin' Rebels in a Jan. 20 game at Moby Arena.

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CSU closes out the regular season at home Feb. 28 against New Mexico and has a bye the weekend before the Mountain West tournament March 7-10 in Las Vegas.

The Rams are coming off a 24-12 season that included a 13-5 record and second-place finish in the MW and berth in the National Invitation Tournament, where they lost a second-round game at home to Cal State-Bakersfield. Five players from that team are expected to return this season.

Follow reporter Kelly Lyell at twitter.com/KellyLyell and facebook.com/KellyLyell.news and listen to him talk CSU sports at 11:35 a.m. Thursdays on KFKA radio (AM 1310).

2017-18 CSU men's basketball schedule



Fri., Nov. 3 – COLORADO MESA (Exh.)

Fri., Nov. 10 - SACRAMENTO STATE

Tue., Nov. 14 – WINTHROP ^

Fri., Nov. 17 – vs. Tulane ^

Sun., Nov. 19 – vs. Florida State ^

Wed., Nov. 22 - at New Mexico State

Fri., Nov. 24 – NORTHWESTERN STATE (LA.) ^

Tue., Nov. 28 - at Missouri State #

Sat., Dec. 2 - COLORADO

Tue., Dec. 5 - at Arkansas

Fri., Dec. 8 - at Oregon

Sun., Dec. 17 - TEXAS STATE

Tue., Dec. 19 - ARKANSAS FORT SMITH

Sat., Dec. 23 - LONG BEACH STATE

Wed., Dec. 27 – at Boise State*

Sat., Dec. 30 – at San Jose State*

Wed., Jan. 3 – SAN DIEGO STATE*

Sat., Jan. 6 – FRESNO STATE*

Wed., Jan. 10 – at Utah State*

Sat., Jan. 13 – at Wyoming*

Wed., Jan. 17 – AIR FORCE*

Sat., Jan. 20 – UNLV* (Orange Out)

Wed., Jan. 24 – at San Diego State*

Sat., Jan. 27 – at New Mexico*

Wed., Jan. 31 – WYOMING*

Sat., Feb. 3 – NEVADA* (White Out)

Wed., Feb. 7 – at Air Force*

Sat., Feb. 10 – SAN JOSE STATE*

Sat., Feb. 17 – at Fresno State*

Wed., Feb. 21 – BOISE STATE*

Sun., Feb. 25 – at Nevada*

Wed., Feb. 28 – NEW MEXICO*

Wed.-Sat., March 7-10 – at Mountain West Championship (Las Vegas, Nev.)



* Mountain West Conference games

^ Jamaica Classic (2 games home, 2 games in Montego Bay, Jamaica)

# Mountain West-Missouri Valley Challenge