The University of Central Arkansas Bears will host SIU-Edwardsville on Feb. 23 in men’s basketball action in a non-conference matchup.
It's part of the Southland Conference’s participation in the Ramada Worldwide BracketBusters event.
The Bears (9-11, 4-6) will host the Cougars, members of the Ohio Valley Conference in the 4:30 p.m. game at the Farris Center. SIU-E is 7-11 overall and 4-5 in the Ohio Valley, in second place in the West Division.
The Bears and Cougars have only met one time in history, with UCA winning 101-94 in 1993 in the Missouri Western Classic at St. Joseph, Mo.
UCA will have five more Southland Conference games before its date with SIU-E.
The Bears played at Louisiana Tech in the BracketBusters last year, the first year for the SLC to participate, losing 84-62 in Ruston, La. UCA receives a home game with Louisiana Tech next season and will travel to SIU-E some time in the next two seasons.
BracketBusters, named because of the success of the teams in the NCAA tournament, will provide the 26 televised teams an opportunity to play other top non-conference opponents three weeks before Selection Sunday. The other 96 teams that were part of the 122-team BracketBusters pool but not selected to appear on television will compete against each other the same two days, Feb. 22-23.