EVANSVILLE — The objective for David Ragland remains the same when assembling his non-conference schedule: get his team ready for the Missouri Valley Conference.
The University of Evansville men’s basketball program announced its non-conference schedule for the 2025-26 season on Tuesday, Aug. 19. It includes games against at minimum five teams that finished in the top 175 of last year’s KenPom rankings The highlights are trips to Purdue and Notre Dame, in addition to competing in the U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam tournament.
UE went 11-21 last season but won its most Valley games in almost a decade. The roster saw another overhaul with 10 departues and eight newcomers. The Aces do return two starters in MVC Defensive Player of the Year Connor Turnbull and Joshua Hughes.
“We have another very competitive non-conference schedule,” Ragland told the Courier & Press. “It’s all important, but you try and play a non-conference schedule that will get you prepared for your conference season. We accomplished that last year, maybe to an extreme. Hopefully, this year is a little more balanced.”
Here is the non-conference schedule with additional thoughts from Ragland below.
2025-26 Evansville Men’s Basketball Schedule
Ragland said the Aces will also have a closed door scrimmage but didn’t specificy the opponent. Henderson State, their exhibition opponent, is coached by former UE assistant Jimmy Elgas. Evansville has return games with Middle Tennessee State, UT Arlington and Ball State from last year — a trip to Western Kentucky is the second leg of a multi-year series.
On a trip to Purdue: “They may be number one or top five in the country. That’s going to be an experience our guys will enjoy. That game will give us some good lessons that we can take from it and know how to go throughout the rest of our non-con schedule.
On year-to-year philosophy: “We had a very competitive non-con last year. We didn’t regain our footing after taking that first punch in the mouth. It’s all going to prepare us for conference season. Get ready to go out there and compete. I think we’ve done a good job putting a schedule together for what really matters. We’ve been a one-bid league for the past four years, maybe five. We have to be our best at the end.”
This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Breaking down Evansville men’s basketball’s 2025-26 non-conference schedule
Reporting by Kyle Sokeland, Evansville Courier & Press / Evansville Courier & Press
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