Johnny Dawkins has never shied away from playing tough opponents, so it’s no surprise that the UCF men’s basketball coach would once again challenge a new team with a challenging non-conference schedule.
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The Knights will face two teams from the SEC in Mississippi State (Nov. 17) and Vanderbilt (Nov. 20), the defending Ivy League regular-season champs in Yale (Nov. 6) and a prominent college basketball blue blood in Indiana (Dec. 12).
It’s UCF’s first meeting with the Hoosiers at legendary Assembly Hall.
“We’ll always try to play the best schedule that we can play,” Dawkins told the Sentinel in July.
The schedule features nine home games at Addition Financial Arena, a visit to ESPN’s Wide World of Sports for the ESPN Invitational on Thanksgiving weekend and a trip to South Florida’s Rick Case Arena to face Virginia Tech in a neutral-site matchup.
It’s the first meeting against the Hokies.
UCF begins its fourth season in the Big 12 in January, facing an 18-game league schedule.
Dawkins credited Director of Operations Jeff Chapman and Senior Athletics Director Rich Zvosec with creating a schedule that gives the Knights a chance at a successful season and a possible postseason run.
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“We’re in that conversation (NCAA Tournament) every year in January and February, in large part because they do a great job of making sure that we are playing the right opponents,” Dawkins said of Chapman and Zvosec. “We’ll play as challenging a schedule as we possibly can and do it again this year.”
UCF opened last season by sweeping its non-conference slate while winning its first 11 games. The Knights would finish with a 21-12 overall record, earning an at-large bid for the NCAA Tournament before losing to UCLA in the first round.
Dawkins welcomed 10 newcomers to the roster, anchored by starting center Jon Bol, who returned for his second season with the program.
Times and television viewing information will be released later.
2026 UCF men’s basketball non-conference schedule
Nov. 2: Florida Gulf Coast
Nov. 6: Yale University
Nov. 10: South Alabama
Nov. 13: Georgia Southern
Nov. 17: Mississippi State
Nov. 20: at Vanderbilt
Nov. 26: vs. Boston College or Georgia*
Nov. 27: vs. Boston College or Georgia*
Dec. 1: Jacksonville University
Dec. 6: American University
Dec. 12: at Indiana University
Dec. 16: FIU
Dec. 19: vs. Virginia Tech**
Dec. 22: Towson
*ESPN Events Invitational at ESPN Wide World of Sports
**Rick Case Arena in Fort Lauderdale
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