College Basketball Opening Night 2026: Top 25 Games, Times, TV and the Champions Classic

College basketball’s season tips off Monday, Nov. 2, 2026, with No. 1 Florida vs. No. 14 Miami at 6 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on ESPN2 in Tampa, and ESPN’s schedule lists 18 men’s games with a Top 25 team that day. Below: every opening-night game with its channel, the tipoffs in Central, Mountain and Pacific time, the women’s games, both preseason polls, the Champions Classic on Nov. 10 and a one-page watch sheet.

ESPN’s press release on the 2026-27 men’s schedule says “The season tips off Monday, Nov. 2.” For the full season calendar through March, see our college basketball 2026-27 key dates story.

Which men’s Top 25 games are on Monday, Nov. 2?

Times are ET from ESPN’s men’s schedule, checked Nov. 1, 2026. Rankings are the Associated Press (AP) preseason Top 25 of Oct. 19, 2026, as shown on ESPN. “vs.” marks a neutral site; “at” means the second team is at home. The TV column uses Big Ten Network (BTN), CBS Sports Network (CBSSN), Turner Network Television (TNT), Southeastern Conference (SEC) Network and Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Network, plus streaming services such as SEC Network+ (SECN), written “SECN+” in ESPN’s listings.

Tipoff (ET)	Game	Venue	TV per ESPN
6:00 p.m.	No. 14 Miami vs. No. 1 Florida	Benchmark International Arena, Tampa (Orion180 Tipoff Classic)	ESPN2
6:00 p.m.	Oakland at No. 16 Michigan	Crisler Center, Ann Arbor	BTN
6:30 p.m.	Army at No. 2 Duke	Cameron Indoor Stadium, Durham	ESPNU, Patriot League TV
6:30 p.m.	Monmouth at No. 13 St. John’s	Carnesecca Arena, Queens	ESPN+
7:00 p.m.	Quinnipiac at No. 6 Michigan State	Breslin Center, East Lansing	B1G+
7:00 p.m.	Memphis vs. No. 18 Iowa State	Sanford Pentagon, Sioux Falls	FS1
7:00 p.m.	Jackson State at No. 19 Texas Tech	United Supermarkets Arena, Lubbock	CBSSN
7:00 p.m.	Bellarmine at No. 24 Vanderbilt	Memorial Gymnasium, Nashville	SECN+
7:30 p.m.	No. 15 Gonzaga vs. Purdue	T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas (Hall of Fame Series)	TNT
8:00 p.m.	Fairleigh Dickinson at No. 3 Illinois	State Farm Center, Champaign	BTN
8:00 p.m.	Fordham at No. 17 Kansas	Allen Fieldhouse, Lawrence	ESPN+
9:00 p.m.	Gardner-Webb at No. 4 UConn	PeoplesBank Arena, Hartford	Peacock
9:00 p.m.	Chicago State at No. 7 Texas	Moody Center, Austin	SEC Network
9:00 p.m.	La Salle at No. 10 Houston	Fertitta Center, Houston	CBSSN
9:00 p.m.	Chattanooga at No. 11 Louisville	Louisville home arena	ACC Network
9:00 p.m.	Ohio State vs. No. 25 Brigham Young University (BYU)	Delta Center, Salt Lake City (Bad Boy Mowers Series)	FS1
10:00 p.m.	No. 5 Arizona vs. No. 22 University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)	T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas (Hall of Fame Series)	TNT
10:30 p.m.	Milwaukee at No. 21 University of Southern California (USC)	Galen Center, Los Angeles	B1G+

Twenty ranked teams play on Monday. Tennessee (No. 8), Virginia (No. 9), Arkansas (No. 12), Alabama (No. 20) and Kentucky (No. 23) open Tuesday, Nov. 3 in ESPN’s schedule, against Wofford, Drexel, Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Sam Houston and Manhattan.

How do I read the TV column?

ESPN’s listings mix television networks with streaming services. ESPN+, Peacock, Big Ten Plus (B1G+) and SECN+ are streaming services, shown here as ESPN lists them. Gonzaga’s home game against New Mexico State on Saturday, Nov. 7 shows “TV not listed” on ESPN as of Nov. 1.

What time is each tipoff in Central, Mountain and Pacific time?

The CT, MT and PT columns are our conversion from the ET tipoff on ESPN, not an official schedule.

ET	CT	MT	PT
12:00 p.m.	11:00 a.m.	10:00 a.m.	9:00 a.m.
2:30 p.m.	1:30 p.m.	12:30 p.m.	11:30 a.m.
6:00 p.m.	5:00 p.m.	4:00 p.m.	3:00 p.m.
6:30 p.m.	5:30 p.m.	4:30 p.m.	3:30 p.m.
7:00 p.m.	6:00 p.m.	5:00 p.m.	4:00 p.m.
7:30 p.m.	6:30 p.m.	5:30 p.m.	4:30 p.m.
8:00 p.m.	7:00 p.m.	6:00 p.m.	5:00 p.m.
9:00 p.m.	8:00 p.m.	7:00 p.m.	6:00 p.m.
9:30 p.m.	8:30 p.m.	7:30 p.m.	6:30 p.m.
10:00 p.m.	9:00 p.m.	8:00 p.m.	7:00 p.m.
10:30 p.m.	9:30 p.m.	8:30 p.m.	7:30 p.m.

Which men’s games should you watch in the first week?

Florida opened the preseason AP poll at No. 1 with 47 first-place votes, News 9 reported, and Miami is No. 14 on ESPN’s list. They meet on a neutral court in Tampa on Monday, then Florida hosts Jacksonville on Thursday, Nov. 5 and plays at Florida State on Tuesday, Nov. 10.

Date and tipoff (ET)	Game	Venue	TV per ESPN
Mon., Nov. 2, 6:00 p.m.	No. 14 Miami vs. No. 1 Florida	Tampa	ESPN2
Mon., Nov. 2, 7:30 p.m.	No. 15 Gonzaga vs. Purdue	T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas	TNT
Mon., Nov. 2, 10:00 p.m.	No. 5 Arizona vs. No. 22 UCLA	T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas	TNT
Fri., Nov. 6, 8:00 p.m.	No. 4 UConn vs. No. 16 Michigan	TD Garden, Boston (Hall of Fame Series)	TNT
Sun., Nov. 8, 1:00 p.m.	No. 12 Arkansas vs. No. 9 Virginia	Capital One Arena, Washington	ESPN
Tue., Nov. 10, 7:00 p.m.	No. 6 Michigan State vs. No. 2 Duke	United Center, Chicago (State Farm Champions Classic)	ESPN
Tue., Nov. 10, 8:00 p.m.	No. 3 Illinois at No. 19 Texas Tech	United Supermarkets Arena, Lubbock	Peacock
Tue., Nov. 10, 9:30 p.m.	No. 17 Kansas vs. No. 23 Kentucky	United Center, Chicago (State Farm Champions Classic)	ESPN

ESPN’s press release for the State Farm Champions Classic lists Nov. 10, 2026 at the United Center in Chicago, with Michigan State vs. Duke and Kansas vs. Kentucky. ESPN’s schedule puts the first game at 7 p.m. ET and the second at 9:30 p.m. ET, which is 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. CT by our conversion. Two other ranked teams play on the same night: Illinois travels to Texas Tech, and Florida visits Florida State at 6 p.m. ET on ESPN2.

What is on the women’s schedule?

ESPN’s women’s schedule has two games in Paris at Adidas Arena (the Oui-Play event) on Monday, at noon and 2:30 p.m. ET. The preseason poll is from the Associated Press (AP) of Oct. 20, 2026, reported by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at NCAA.com.

Date and tipoff (ET)	Game	Venue	TV per ESPN
Mon., Nov. 2, 12:00 p.m.	No. 20 Maryland vs. No. 1 South Carolina	Adidas Arena, Paris	ESPN
Mon., Nov. 2, 2:30 p.m.	No. 21 Oklahoma vs. No. 12 North Carolina	Adidas Arena, Paris	ESPN2
Mon., Nov. 2, 4:00 p.m.	No. 3 USC vs. University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV)	T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas	CBSSN
Mon., Nov. 2, 5:00 p.m.	Cornell at No. 2 UConn	PeoplesBank Arena, Hartford	Peacock
Thu., Nov. 5, 6:30 p.m.	No. 2 UConn at No. 5 Michigan	Crisler Center, Ann Arbor	FS1
Sun., Nov. 8, 2:00 p.m.	No. 10 Iowa at No. 2 UConn	Gampel Pavilion, Storrs	FS1
Sun., Nov. 8, 5:30 p.m.	No. 12 North Carolina vs. No. 1 South Carolina	Spectrum Center, Charlotte (Ally Tipoff)	ESPN

South Carolina leads the women’s preseason poll with 23 first-place votes and UConn is second with six. NCAA.com says the first regular-season poll comes out Nov. 9. ESPN’s list also has Duke (No. 4) hosting Green Bay on Tuesday, Nov. 3 and No. 6 Texas hosting Fairleigh Dickinson on Wednesday, Nov. 4.

Where do the preseason Top 10 polls start?

Rank	Men (AP, Oct. 19)	Women (AP, Oct. 20)
1	Florida (47 first-place votes)	South Carolina (23)
2	Duke (10)	UConn (6)
3	Illinois (2)	USC (2)
4	UConn	Duke
5	Arizona	Michigan
6	Michigan State	Texas
7	Texas	Louisville
8	Tennessee	Vanderbilt
9	Virginia	Louisiana State University (LSU)
10	Houston	Iowa

Sources: News 9 for the men’s poll and NCAA.com for the women’s poll. Ranks outside the Top 10 in this story come from ESPN’s schedule pages.

What does the first week look like day by day?

Day	What ESPN lists
Mon., Nov. 2	Women’s games from noon ET; 18 men’s games from 6 p.m. ET, ending with Milwaukee at USC at 10:30 p.m. ET
Tue., Nov. 3	Tennessee at 6 p.m. ET, then Kentucky, Virginia, Alabama and Arkansas at home; Duke women host Green Bay at 7 p.m. ET
Wed., Nov. 4	Women’s games only in the list we checked: Vanderbilt, Texas and Louisville at home
Thu., Nov. 5	UConn women at Michigan, 6:30 p.m. ET on FS1; Florida, Duke and Michigan State men at home at 8 p.m. ET
Fri., Nov. 6	UConn vs. Michigan in Boston, 8 p.m. ET on TNT
Sat., Nov. 7	Louisville at noon ET; Gonzaga at 5 p.m. ET
Sun., Nov. 8	Arkansas vs. Virginia at 1 p.m. ET; UConn women host Iowa at 2 p.m. ET; South Carolina vs. North Carolina at 5:30 p.m. ET
Mon., Nov. 9	First regular-season women’s AP poll, per NCAA.com
Tue., Nov. 10	Champions Classic at the United Center, 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. ET on ESPN

Which November tournaments come after opening week?

Event	Dates	Where	Teams or games
Southwest Maui Invitational	Nov. 23-25, 2026	Lahaina Civic Center	Arizona, BYU, Clemson, Colorado State, Ole Miss, Providence, Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), Washington
Battle 4 Atlantis (men’s)	Nov. 25-27, 2026	Imperial Arena, Paradise Island, Bahamas	Marquette, Memphis, Mississippi State, Penn State, Texas A&M, Virginia, Wake Forest, Xavier
Players Era	Later in November	Las Vegas	Carried by ESPN networks, per ESPN’s press release
Atlantic Coast Conference-Southeastern Conference (ACC-SEC) Challenge	Tue., Dec. 1, 2026	Florida and Louisville (home teams)	Duke at Florida, 9:30 p.m. ET on ESPN; Texas at Louisville, 9 p.m. ET on ESPN2

Dates for the Maui Invitational and Battle 4 Atlantis come from the events’ own sites; the ACC-SEC Challenge games come from ESPN’s Oct. 7 release. Pair this list with the November 2026 printable calendar and the December 2026 printable calendar. Pro basketball has its own dates in our NBA Cup schedule story, and the sports on TV today story for Nov. 2 lists the night’s other games.

Is there a printable college basketball watch sheet?

Yes. The one-page sheet lists 26 men’s and women’s games from Nov. 2 to Nov. 10 in tipoff order with the ET time, network and a Done column. Women’s games carry a W. Keep it next to the printable weekly calendar. Times can change; check ESPN on game day.