Another game is on the Tigers’ calendar. As of Wednesday, May 28, Missouri basketball has seven confirmed games on its 2025-26 schedule, the Tribune has learned via an open records request. That includes one fresh December matchup. The newest game on the schedule is a previously unreported home matchup against Bethune-Cookman, which will take place Sunday, Dec. 14 at Mizzou Arena. The HBCU team out of Daytona Beach, Florida, will be paid $110,000 to play in Columbia, according to the competition contract obtained by the Tribune. The Wildcats went 17-16 last season and lost in the second round of the SWAC Tournament. More: Who are the new coordinators, head coaches on Missouri football’s 2025 schedule? Mizzou also has added Virginia Military Institute to its 2025-26 slate, with a game scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 9, which falls on the same weekend MU football plays Texas A&M on Faurot Field. The hoops game against VMI is unlikely to be MU’s home opener. The Tigers announced last Wednesday that they will open their season on the road against Howard on Monday, Nov. 3 in Washington, D.C. In every season under head coach Dennis Gates, Mizzou has played three games within eight days of its first game. If the Tigers follow that same timeline, there will be a matchup — likely at Mizzou Arena — between the Howard and VMI contests. According to the competition contract, Missouri’s game against VMI is a one-off affair, with Mizzou paying the visitors $110,000 to come to Columbia. The Keydets went 15-19 last season and hired MU’s assistant director of basketball operations, Nick Korta, as an assistant coach in the offseason. The series against Howard is not just a home-and-home, but instead a three-game affair that will bridge into 2026. The Tigers, who hosted the Bison last season, will do so again on a to-be-determined date next year. Mizzou will pay $85,000 to Howard — $65,000 in 2024; $0 for the road game in 2025; $20,000 in 2026 — for the full series. The Tigers also will play Minnesota in November this year, fulfilling a home-and-home agreement that initially began in 2023, when MU beat the Golden Gophers in Minneapolis. Mizzou was meant to play the return leg on Nov. 14 or 15 last season, per the competition contract, but that was amended to delay the series by one year last August. Now, Minnesota, under new head coach Nico Medved, appears to be making the postponed trip to Columbia. No specific date has been set for the matchup, but the competition contract indicates that it will take place in November. Both of the VMI and Minnesota matchups were first reported by Eli Hoff of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The Tigers will play neutral-site games against Kansas and Illinois. The Border War matchup versus KU will take place at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City for the first neutral-site edition of the renewed rivalry. The game has been held on the second weekend of December for each of the past four years. The Braggin’ Rights matchup against Illinois, as is normally the case, will take place at Enterprise Center in St. Louis. That game has been held on Dec. 22 for each of the past four years, historically falling on the days leading up to Christmas. Mizzou also is expected to have a game in the scheduled ACC/SEC Challenge. The Tigers hosted California for the event last season, and it does not appear as if there are any explicit rules stating that a team is guaranteed to alternate between home and road venues. MU played 13 nonconference games in November and December last season. That leaves room for six more games to be scheduled.
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