Cue up the John Chaney vs. John Calipari videos. UMass and Temple are playing basketball again.
After years of watching cherished rivalries with Boston College, UConn and Temple disappear from its schedule, UMass is getting one back as the school announced Friday that it will host the Owls on Nov. 17 at the Mullins Center.
UMass is billing the game as a throwback Thursday game.
The teams won’t play in 2017-18, but will play in Philadelphia in 2018-19.
“We are excited about restarting our rivalry with Temple, our nonconference opposition this year and extending our series with Harvard and Providence in the upcoming seasons,” UMass coach Derek Kellogg said in the release announcing the game. “We are a young team in 2016-17 and I believe having these nine nonconference home games — combined with taking on tough teams like Temple, Harvard, Ole Miss and Providence — will serve us well as we prepare for the always-competitive Atlantic 10 portion of our season.”
The Temple addition could complete UMass’ nonconference schedule. The Minutemen have one more game slot available, but may choose not to fill it, unless the right game or series presents itself.
The nonconference schedule is: UMass Lowell (Nov. 11), at Ole Miss (Nov. 14), Temple (Nov. 17), at Holy Cross (Nov. 20, DCU Center), Harvard (Nov. 26), Wagner (Nov. 30), UCF (Dec. 3), Pacific (Dec. 8), at Providence (Dec. 10), North Carolina A&T (Dec. 14), Kennesaw State (Dec. 17), Rider (Dec. 22).
30 FOR 30 — Director Jonathan Hock was in Amherst this week to interview people for an upcoming ESPN 30 for 30 documentary on Calipari that is expected to air this fall. Hock has directed several installments from the documentary series, including “Survive and Advance” about the 1983 North Carolina State championship team, and “Unguarded” about troubled basketball star Chris Herren.
He spent time this week with Lou Roe and Kellogg, who both played for and coached under Calipari, as well as media members who were around the program during Calipari’s tenure. Roe was one of Calipari’s first star players.
KAMP KELLOGG — The annual UMass Basketball Camp will be Aug. 1-4 at Boyden Gymnasium and the Kennedy Champions Center.
It is separated into two age groups: 4-7 (9 a.m. to noon, $125, no lunch included) and ages 8-18 (9 a.m. to 4 p.m. $250, lunch included).
For more information, including registration, visit www.coachkellogg.net.
Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage