Marquette will play home and road closed-door scrimmages in Shaka Smart's second season as coach
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The Marquette men's basketball team is not playing an exhibition game this season.
Instead, the Golden Eagles will play two closed-door scrimmages against NCAA Division I opponents. According to a source, MU will host Loyola (Illinois) at the Al McGuire Center on Oct. 15. Then MU and Missouri will hold a closed-door scrimmage at the University of Chicago on Oct. 29.
In recent seasons, MU has opted for one exhibition game and one closed-door scrimmage. In Shaka Smart's first season as coach, the Golden Eagles had a closed-door scrimmage at Boston College and an exhibition game with Bowie State at Fiserv Forum.
The closed-door scrimmages will allow Smart to see his roster, which includes four newcomers, play against high-caliber competition.
Loyola is entering its second season under head coach Drew Valentine. The Ramblers lost to Ohio State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament last season and have to replace their best player in Lucas Williamson.
Missouri hired new coach Dennis Gates away from Cleveland State, and his roster with the Tigers includes just three players from last season. Gates was a graduate assistant at MU under former coach Tom Crean.
The closed-door scrimmages are closed to the public and media, per NCAA rules.
But MU fans will have several chances to see the Golden Eagles play in person before the season opener against Radford on Nov. 7.
The team will have an open scrimmage Oct. 8 at 10 a.m. at the Al McGuire Center. There will be an open practice on Oct. 27 at 6 p.m. at Fiserv Forum. There is also an open practice for MU faculty and staff at 2 p.m. Oct. 27 at the Al McGuire Center.
Contact Ben Steele at (414) 224-2676 or bmsteele@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @BenSteeleMJS or Instagram at @bensteele_mjs
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Marquette, Shaka Smart play Loyola, Missouri in closed-door scrimmages
