UC Davis, Montana State to visit Arkansas in November

UC Davis head coach Jim Les gestures to his team in the first half of a first-round game against Kansas in the men's NCAA college basketball tournament in Tulsa, Okla., Friday, March 17, 2017. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

— Arkansas' 2018-19 non-conference schedule continues to be pieced together through schedule releases at other schools.

The Razorbacks will play California-Davis on Nov. 12 and Montana State on Nov. 21 at Bud Walton Arena, according to schedules that were released Thursday. It will be the second meeting between Arkansas and UC Davis and the first meeting between Arkansas and Montana State.

The games are being played as part of the Hardwood Showcase, an exempt event that also will include Arkansas home games against Indiana on Nov. 18, according to reports, and Texas-Arlington on Nov. 23.

Texas A&M-Corpus Christi is also part of the Hardwood Showcase, but it unclear whether the Razorbacks will play that team.

Other known non-conference dates for Arkansas include a Nov. 9 game against Texas as part of the Armed Forces Classic at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas; a Dec. 5 game at Colorado State; a Dec. 22 home game against Texas State; and a Jan. 26 game at Texas Tech as part of the Big 12/SEC Challenge. The Razorbacks will host Western Kentucky, but a date has not been announced.

Arkansas will play 13 non-conference games.

UC Davis went 22-11 last season and won the regular-season championship in the Big West Conference. The Aggies were upset by Cal State Fullerton in the semifinals of the conference tournament to deny them of a second consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament, and lost to Utah in the first round of the NIT.

The Aggies must replace departed leading scorer and rebounder Chima Moneke (18.4 points and 9.6 rebounds per game), but return much of their roster, including senior guards TJ Shorts II (14.8 ppg) and Siler Schneider (13.9 ppg).

Other notable returners include senior forward AJ John (7.9 ppg, 4.0 rpg) and junior guard Joe Mooney (6.5 ppg).

UC Davis is coached by Jim Les, who is 109-115 in seven seasons. The Aggies have won at least 22 games three of the past four seasons.

Montana State was 13-19 overall and 6-12 in the Big Sky Conference last season. The Bobcats return their three leading scorers from last season - senior guard Tyler Hall (17.5 ppg), junior guard Harald Frey (13.1 ppg) and senior guard Keljin Blevins (9.7 ppg), a Hot Springs native.

Brian Fish is 50-75 in four seasons as Montana State's coach.