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COLUMBIA, Mo. 鈥� 鈥楾is the season to program the season, and Missouri men鈥檚 basketball is assembling the nonconference portion of its 2025-26 schedule.

At the moment, the Tigers have five such games contractually on the books, according to agreements between Mizzou and opposing schools obtained by the Post-Dispatch through an open records request.

As the program announced, it will begin the season with a road game at Howard on Monday, Nov. 3.

That will be MU鈥檚 second meeting with the Bison of a three-game series that includes one more matchup held in Columbia in the 2026-27 season. Playing on Howard鈥檚 campus in Washington means there won鈥檛 be any money changing hands between the programs this year, but Missouri will pay the Bison $20,000 next year after a $65,000 fee last season.

Then Mizzou will return home, likely for a while. The Tigers have scheduled a game against the Virginia Military Institute for Sunday, Nov. 9, per a contract with that school.

It鈥檚 a one-off agreement that will pay out $110,000 to VMI, which plays in the Southern Conference. Earlier this offseason, the Keydets hired former Missouri assistant director of basketball operations Nick Korta as an assistant coach.

While the VMI matchup is chronologically the first home game presently scheduled for MU, it鈥檚 not necessarily going to wind up as the home opener. In years past, coach Dennis Gates has booked a game in the middle of those dates to play roughly three games inside the first week of the season 鈥� in this case, he may schedule one for the Thursday or Friday before the VMI matchup.

Regardless, that weekend will be a busy one for Missouri sports, with the Tigers鈥� football team hosting Texas A&M on Saturday, Nov. 8.

At a to-be-determined time in November, Mizzou will host Minnesota in the finale of a two-game series with the Golden Gophers.

MU had traveled north to face them in 2023, but the contract between the schools was amended to skip the game last season. Minnesota, under a new coach Niko Medved, is now expected to deliver on its promise and play in Columbia this year.

Though the dates haven鈥檛 been finalized, the Tigers will continue their rivalries with both Illinois and Kansas. Braggin鈥� Rights will once again be held in 51黑料鈥� Enterprise Center, with MU as the home team this time, while the Border War will move to the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City.

Mizzou will later find out its opponent in the Atlantic Coast Conference/Southeastern Conference basketball challenge. If those leagues continue alternating which teams host games, the Tigers will be sent on the road to an ACC school this season.

The aforementioned matchups, including the ACC/SEC challenge, comprise six of the 13 nonconference matchups MU will play, leaving plenty still unknown about how the Tigers will begin the season.

Part of the unknown is how strong of a schedule Gates will draw up for his team.

Last season, Missouri鈥檚 nonconference slate was quite gentle, giving the Tigers the second-worst strength of nonconference schedule of any SEC program. ESPN鈥檚 Basketball Power Index pegged Mizzou鈥檚 noncon slate as the 173rd toughest in the nation, ahead of only LSU at 215th in the SEC, while Alabama and Auburn both had nonconference schedules ranked in the top six.

It ultimately didn鈥檛 keep MU from the NCAA Tournament or from capturing a No. 6 seed in March Madness, particularly because the Tigers performed well in a historically talented SEC. While the conference will be dangerous once again, it might not have the same kind of dominant strength 鈥� making the difficulty of Mizzou鈥檚 early games something to follow.

In preparing for her first season leading Missouri鈥檚 women鈥檚 basketball team, coach Kellie Harper has not yet scheduled any new nonconference games. The Tigers are expected to play at Tulane in 2025-26, fulfilling a two-game agreement that saw that matchup take place in Columbia last season.

The women鈥檚 team has agreed to participate in a Nov. 15 event called the 28.5 Shootout run by Missouri Valley Youth Services, but it鈥檚 unclear which other schools will play in the invitational or where it will take place.

Harper told the Post-Dispatch last month that she likes to give her team some challenges during nonconference play, but she may well go a little easier as her first Mizzou roster hits the hardwood.

鈥淢y philosophy of scheduling has changed throughout the years as the climate鈥檚 changed, the NET, how things are calculated as changed, honestly, how this generation handles things,鈥� Harper said. 鈥淲e鈥檒l still give them quite a few challenges in the nonconference schedule, and then hopefully you鈥檙e ready to go when SEC (play) hits.鈥�