NEW ROCHELLE, NY - Iona College men's basketball announced its non-conference home slate for the upcoming 2021-22 campaign. The Gaels host three programs to open the season, which begins November 9.
 
The three non-conference home contests, along with 10 MAAC games, will see the Maroon & Gold playing in the Hynes Center 13 times during the 2021-22 campaign. Season tickets are on sale now! In addition to the men's basketball games in New Rochelle, an Iona basketball season ticket includes access to all women's basketball home games and to the men's to be announced game at Madison Square Garden in December. It also includes access to other events exclusive to season ticket holders. The first such event takes place Sunday, August 15, at the Hynes Center for a Bon Voyage Maroon & Gold scrimmage as the team prepares for its Summer Foreign Tour in Greece in late August.
 
For as low as $16 per game per ticket, fans can get involved with the New York metropolitan area's winningest college basketball program over the last quarter century and the second season under its Hall of Fame head coach Rick Pitino. The Gaels return several key contributors to last year's NCAA tournament team, welcome key transfers and talented newcomers and will look to defend their MAAC tournament championship for the sixth-straight time in the upcoming season. 
 
The 2021-22 season opener takes place Tuesday, November 9, as the Maroon & Gold host the Sun Belt Conference's Appalachian State. It will be the first-ever meeting between the two schools. The Gaels are slated to travel to Boone, North Carolina for a return game in 2023-24. App State earned 17 wins during the 2020-21 season and finished fourth in the Sun Belt East. It is just the second time Iona plays against a Sun Belt program following its appearance vs. Coastal Carolina on November 19, 2017, in the Island of the Bahamas Showcase.
 
Four days later, Iona hosts Harvard on Saturday, November 13. The Gaels and Crimson begin a two-year series which will conclude next season in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Harvard did not compete in 2020-21 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The two teams met once prior, with the Maroon & Gold earning a win at home at the Iona Classic on December 28, 1994. It will be the first of two Ivy League opponents for the Maroon & Gold. Iona took on at least one opponent from the conference from 2017-19.
 
The Gaels third home game in eight days to open the season takes place Tuesday, November 16 vs. Hofstra. The two New York Metropolitan Area rivals are in the second of a three-year series following the matchup last year in Hempstead. The Pride's eight league wins last year was tied for most in the CAA and were 13-10 overall on the season. The Gaels are 21-20 all-time vs. Hofstra following its win on the road last December.
 
With the announcement of the program's three non-conference contests, Iona has revealed seven of its 11 games thus far.
 
The Gaels travel to Disney over the Thanksgiving Holiday for the 2021 ESPN Events Invitational. The event opens on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 25, against the SEC's Alabama in a rematch of a NCAA tournament first round tilt this past March. Belmont or Drake await Iona in the second game on Friday, November 26. The third game on Sunday will be either Dayton, Kansas, Miami or North Texas.
 
Iona also takes on Yale at the Barclays Center on Sunday, December 12. The game is part of the 2021 Basketball Hall of Fame Invitational and a quadruple header in Brooklyn.
 
The four remaining games will be revealed in the near future.