Duke basketball will go through absolute mayhem with its non-conference schedule for 2025-26 season
The Duke basketball program has not shied away from priming its 2025-26 squad for March, already scheduling a slew of big-time non-conference matchups for the team through next year’s college basketball season. Let’s take a look at the Blue Devils’ complete current non-con slate and the marquee matchups Jon Scheyer has put together for his guys so far.
November 4th: Duke vs. Texas
The Blue Devils will open up their season with a huge contest against the Texas Longhorns at Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. It’s a new era in Austin as the program named Sean Miller its next head coach this offseason, and Texas has a chance to be one of the better teams in the SEC. Miller, who was at Xavier for the last three seasons before switching to Texas, is bringing Lassina Traore and Dailyn Swain with him to Austin from Xavier, two of his top contributors from last season. The Longhorns also added Simeon Wilcher (St. John’s), Camden Heide (Purdue), and Matas Vokietaitis (FAU) via the portal, giving Texas the #2-ranked transfer class per On3’s Team Transfer Portal Rankings. Miller retained loads of talent from last season’s Longhorns roster as well, in Tramon Mark, Jordan Pope, and Chendall Weaver, who all announced their returns to Austin next year. ESPN slotted the Longhorns as the #24-ranked squad in its “Way-Too-Early” Top 25 rankings, and the team might have the best backcourt group in the SEC next season.
November 11th: Duke at Army
Duke will take a road trip to Christl Arena in West Point, New York to take on the Black Knights. This is the only real “buy game” that the Blue Devils currently have on their non-conference slate, and even this one is a road game. The Black Knights finished the 2024-25 season with a 17-16 record and won their first postseason game since 1970 in this past season’s CBI after defeating Elon. The program is bringing back its top three scorers from 2024-25 in Jalen Rucker, Josh Scovens, and Ryan Curry.
November 18th: Duke vs. Kansas
Duke will take on Bill Self’s Jayhawks in the annual State Farm Champions Classic at Madison Square Garden, which features Duke, Kansas, Michigan State, and Kentucky. After a disappointing 2024-25 season for the Jayhawks, the program is bringing in potentially the best high school recruit in the nation in guard Darryn Peterson. Kansas will also bring back talented young center Flory Bidunga and has sealed some talent in the portal with commitments from Tre White (Illinois), Jayden Dawson (Loyola Chicago), and Melvin Council (St. Bonaventure). The Jayhawks will also get to see what they have in Elmarko Jackson, a former highly-touted recruit who sat out all of last season with injury. ESPN has Kansas slotted as the #15 team in the nation.
December: Duke at Michigan State
The exact date is not officially set, but Duke will travel to East Lansing next December to take on Michigan State on the road. The Spartans are coming off of an Elite 8 run from this past season and look poised to sit atop the Big 10 in 2025-26 as well. The program is bringing in four-star recruits Cam Ward and Jordan Scott while also landing portal commitments from Kaleb Glenn (FAU) and Trey Fort (Samford). Jaxon Kohler, Carson Cooper, Jeremy Fears Jr., and Coen Carr have all announced their returns to East Lansing next year, who all played at least 17 minutes a game for the Spartans last season. Michigan State lost starters Tre Holloman to the portal and Jase Richardson to the NBA Draft, but MSU still looks like one of the best squads in the Big 10 with the consistency Izzo brings. ESPN has Sparty at #18 in its national rankings.
February: Duke vs. Michigan
The date of this contest has not been set either, but Duke will face Michigan at Capital One Arena in Washington, DC, in a matchup of two potential top-five teams in the nation. Dusty May brought the Wolverines to a Sweet 16 in his first year in Ann Arbor and has put in the work in the portal to reload for next season. The Wolverines have the #3-ranked portal class in the nation, headlined by top overall transfer Yaxel Lendeborg (UAB) along with Tre Donaldson (Miami), Aday Mara (UCLA), Morez Johnson (Illinois), and Elliot Cadeau (North Carolina). Michigan is bringing back Nimari Burnett and Will Tschetter next season, two of the program’s top six scorers from a season ago. ESPN has the Wolverines ranked #5 in the country heading into next season, and this February duel between Duke and Michigan has the potential to be one of the best games of the games of the entire college basketball season.
