Temple women’s basketball plays a tough nonconference schedule. Here’s a look at those matchups.

Temple’s road to the American Conference championship starts before it faces any conference opponents. Fourth-year coach Diane Richardson recognizes how strong the American has become and is preparing her team with a difficult nonconference schedule.

Richardson scheduled five teams — West Virginia, Richmond, George Mason, Michigan State, and Princeton — that earned a bid to the NCAA Tournament last season to give the Owls an opportunity to play top-notch against competition before conference play.

“The American has really just risen, and there’s so much parity in our conference that on any given day somebody could win,” Richardson said. “I knew that our nonconference schedule had to prepare us for our conference, and to play five tournament teams, it’s a challenge for us.”

Here is a look at some of Temple’s key nonconference games:

The Owls open their season on Monday with a tough test against the reigning Atlantic 10 champions. George Mason went 27-6 last year and ran the table in the A-10 tournament, beating St. Joseph’s in the championship, before losing in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

The Patriots are projected to be competitive again this year. They were picked to finish second in the A-10 preseason poll and return their two leading scorers from last year in guard Kennedy Harris and forward Zahirah Walton, both of whom were named preseason first-team all-conference.

Temple’s first power-conference test comes Nov. 11, when it travels to West Virginia. The Mountaineers beat the Owls, 68-46, last season at the Liacouras Center. West Virginia finished 25-8 last season and made it to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

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West Virginia returns its second-leading scorer in guard Jordan Harrison and was picked fifth in the preseason Big 12 poll this year, while earning votes for the AP Top 25 rankings. This will be Temple’s first road game of the season and offers a taste of a road environment, which could be beneficial later in the season.

Temple has not played in an international tournament since the 2019 season, but will be traveling to the Bahamas this year to play in the Baha Mar Hoops Nassau championship from Nov. 28-30.

The Owls’ first game will be against another high-major opponent in Michigan State on Nov. 28. The Spartans went 22-10 last year and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. They return two starters from last season and are expected to be contenders in the Big Ten again and were ranked 23rd in the initial AP poll.

Depending on the outcome of its first game, Temple could face another power-conference team in Clemson, which went 14-17 last season, in the Bahamas.

Although it’s not a game against a tournament team, the Big 5 Classic championship means a great deal to Temple. The Owls knocked off Villanova, 76-62, to take home the inaugural women’s Big 5 Classic crown last season.

The championship is Dec. 7 at Villanova’s Finneran Pavilion. Temple’s opponent will be determined by pod-play results.

Temple’s pod games this season are against La Salle at home on Nov. 14 and Villanova on the road on Nov. 22. St. Joes, Penn, and Drexel make up the other pod. The Owls will face one of those teams in a first-, third-, or fifth-place game depending on their pod performance.