GREAT FALLS, Mont. – The Frontier Conference officially announced the schedule for the 2020-21 men's basketball season Thursday morning.

The University of Providence will begin their season Jan. 4 with a road game against Montana Tech. Their first home game will be Jan. 9 against Carroll College.

"We are very thankful and excited that we are able to fit in a schedule," head coach Steve Keller said.

In an effort to limit travel, most Frontier Conference games will take place as weekend double-headers. In most cases, the first game will take place Saturday night with a second game against the same opponent occurring Sunday afternoon. There are some instances throughout the year where games will be played on Wednesday nights. All teams will play each conference team four times throughout the course of the season for a total of 20 games.

Schools in the conference that have their students on-campus for the first semester will begin play on Dec. 5, and will play for two weekends before winter break. Because the University of Providence is offering remote learning the first semester, they won't be able to compete until January.

"We are in a different time and we have to be able to prepare for that," Keller said. "I feel like our system is simple and that our new players will adjust quickly. We will be playing a lot of games in a short window. Keeping our players rested and healthy will be a big factor this season."

The Frontier Conference Tournament will take place from Feb. 25 to Mar. 2. The play-in tournament will take place on Mar. 12-13, and the 32-team tournament will take place in Kansas City, Mo. on March 19-23.

The Argos hope to repeat the success they found last year. They return All-American Zaccheus Darko-Kelly, the first player in NAIA history to win NAIA Player of the Week Awards three times in a row, and NAIA Honorable Mention All-American Jaxen Hashley.The team finished the season 24-8 (11-7 in conference) and were awarded a 4-seed in the NAIA National Tournament before the tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.