The Missouri Tigers men’s basketball team will open the new season on November 3. (Photo: Terrance Williams)
Cedric Williams
Senior Editor
COLUMBIA, MO — The University of Missouri athletics program released its 2025 men’s basketball non-conference schedule and its Southeastern Conference opponents in 2026 on Wednesday.
Missouri will play 13 non-conference games and 18 league games in its 31-game 2025-26 regular season. Eighteen of those games will be at home at Mizzou Arena, beginning with the home opener on November 7 against Southeast Missouri State.
The 2025-26 season opener will be on November 3, on the road, in Washington, D.C., against Howard University.
After beginning at Howard, the Tigers will host seven straight home games in November, leading into a road game in South Bend, Ind., against Notre Dame. That game will be part of the annual ACC/SEC Challenge.
Last year, Missouri hosted California and pulled off a 98-93 come-from-behind victory over the Golden Bears.
Mizzou’s two big annual rivalry games will come in December. The Tigers will play Kansas in the Border War game on December 7 at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City. Then just before Christmas, Missouri will meet Illinois in the Braggin’ Rights game at Enterprise Center in St. Louis on December 22.
The Tigers will then turn their attention toward SEC play in the New Year, battling in a conference that sent a record 14 teams to the NCAA Tournament in 2025.
Mizzou plays three schools both home and away in Arkansas, Mississippi State and Oklahoma. The Tigers also host defending national champion Florida, Final Four participant Auburn, and four additional schools that earned bids to the NCAA Tournament in Georgia, Tennessee, Texas, and Vanderbilt.
Six foes the Tigers will only see on the road in 2025-26 include Alabama, Kentucky, LSU, Ole Miss, South Carolina and Texas A&M.
Mizzou aims to add another successful campaign under fourth-year Whitten Family Men’s Basketball Head Coach Dennis Gates in 2025-26. Last season, the Tigers defeated three top-five schools in the same year for the first time since 1988-89, while earning their second bid in three years to the NCAA Tournament and finishing sixth in the SEC’s historic campaign.
2025-26 MIZZOU TIGERS MEN’S BASKETBALL SCHEDULE
| Date | Time | At | Opponent | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| November 3, 2025 (Monday) | TBA | Away | Howard | Washington, D.C. |
| November 7, 2025 (Friday) | TBA | Home | SEMO | Mizzou Arena |
| November 9, 2025 (Sunday) | TBA | Home | VMI | Mizzou Arena |
| November 12, 2025 (Wednesday) | TBA | Home | Minnesota | Mizzou Arena |
| November 17, 2025 (Monday) | TBA | Home | Prairie View A&M | Mizzou Arena |
| November 20, 2025 (Thursday) | TBA | Home | South Dakota | Mizzou Arena |
| November 25, 2025 (Tuesday) | TBA | Home | South Carolina State | Mizzou Arena |
| November 28, 2025 (Friday) | TBA | Home | Cleveland State | Mizzou Arena |
| December 2, 2025 (Tuesday) | TBA | Away | Notre Dame | South Bend, Ind. |
| December 7, 2025 (Sunday) | TBA | Neutral | Kansas | Kansas City, Mo. / T-Mobile Center |
| December 11, 2025 (Thursday) | TBA | Home | Alabama State | Mizzou Arena |
| December 14, 2025 (Sunday) | TBA | Home | Bethune-Cookman | Mizzou Arena |
| December 22, 2025 (Monday) | TBA | Neutral | Illinois | St. Louis, Mo. / Enterprise Center |