The Wolf Pack basketball team returns a strong roster that looks poised to repeat as champions of the Mountain West, and the program has put together a schedule that could return it to the NCAA Tournament.

Nevada released its non-conference schedule Wednesday and it features five teams that posted a top-100 RPI last season: Rhode Island (31), Illinois State (39), TCU (52), Davidson (89) and San Francisco (100). The Wolf Pack also has a potential RPI-boosting road game at the Big 12's Texas Tech. While the schedule doesn't feature a team locked into the Top 25, it does have a solid amount of potential at-large résumé games.

"We are extremely excited about our 2017-18 non-conference and Mountain West schedule," Wolf Pack coach Eric Musselman said in a news release. "We feel like this schedule will give us a competitive body of work and résumé come March. Our staff worked really hard to emphasize, in non-conference schedule, the importance of playing quality teams on the road, which is highlighted by our five road games.

"We also put an emphasis into bringing six quality opponents into Lawlor. It was extremely important to us that we reward our fan base with competitive home games. Most college programs play 30 or 31 games in a season. We are happy that we have filled our schedule with all Division I opponents and filled our non-conference home slate with six games versus Division I opponents."

The Wolf Pack will open the season at home against Idaho on Nov. 10 before playing Rhode Island on Nov. 13. The Rams reached the NCAA Tournament last season and advanced to the second round of the event after upsetting Creighton. Rhode Island returns all but one of its top nine scorers from last year’s 25-win squad. This game should be a matchup of two of the best mid-major teams in the nation. The home schedule also includes contests with Davidson (17-15 last year), Illinois State (28-7), Radford (14-18) and UC Davis (23-13).

The Radford and UC Davis games are part of the Continental Tire Las Vegas Classic. As part of that event, Nevada will face Southern Illinois and San Francisco on Dec. 22 and Dec. 23, respectively, at the Orleans Arena. The Wolf Pack’s game against TCU on Dec. 8 also will be a neutral-site game at the Staples Center in Los Angeles as part of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Classic. TCU won last season’s NIT and is a potential NCAA Tournament team this year.

The Wolf Pack will play five traditional road games, including contests at Santa Clara (17-16 last season), Pacific (11-22), Hawaii (14-16), UC Irvine (21-15) and Texas Tech (18-14). Those games could be crucial to the Wolf Pack’s NCAA Tournament at-large hopes as the selection committee will place more value on road wins this season. In all, Nevada will play 14 non-conference games, two more than most teams. It has exemptions for extra games because of its road contest at Hawaii and the neutral-site tournament.

Nevada’s six non-conference home games are one more than the program usually schedules. The program was able to add two quality teams – Rhode Island and Davidson – late in the scheduling process as part of home-and-home series (Nevada will have to return road games to both opponents). For the second straight season, the Wolf Pack also avoided playing games against Division II or NAIA schools.

This year’s schedule should be an upgrade over last season’s slate, which included two Pac-12 teams – Washington State and Oregon State – that combined to go 3-33 in conference play. Nevada’s non-conference schedule last season ranked 168th out of 351 D-I teams, which led to the team getting a No. 12 seed in the NCAA Tournament despite winning the MW regular-season and conference tournament and posting a 28-6 record.

The Wolf Pack plans to play two exhibition games this season, rather one exhibition and one private scrimmage against a Division I opponent. Those games will be announced at a later date.

Nevada's Mountain West schedule was released earlier this summer.

"The Mountain West will be extremely competitive this year and as a conference could not be in a better place," Musselman said. "We are excited about the challenges that the MW will present to our team. Each MW road game presents its own challenge."

WOLF PACK’S NON-LEAGUE SCHEDULE

Nov. 10: vs. Idaho

Nov. 13: vs. Rhode Island

Nov. 15: at Santa Clara

Nov. 18: at Pacific

Nov. 21: vs. Davidson

Nov. 24: at Hawaii

Nov. 29: vs. Illinois State

Dec. 2: at UC Irvine

Dec. 5: at Texas Tech

Dec. 8: vs. TCU at Staples Center

Dec. 17: vs. Radford

Dec. 19: vs. UC Davis

Dec. 22: vs. Southern Illinois at Orleans Arena

Dec. 23: vs. San Francisco at Orleans Arena