With the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) releasing its full conference schedule on Tuesday afternoon, Notre Dame men’s basketball’s full slate is now set for the upcoming 2025-26 season.
Head coach Micah Shrewsberry enters a crucial third season at the helm in South Bend. The program will be tested in both non-conference matchups as well as ACC play as the Irish aim for their first March Madness appearance since the 2022 campaign.
With just under two months until the Irish kick off the season in Purcell Pavilion against the Long Island Sharks, now is the perfect time to highlight the five matchups that will make or break Notre Dame’s season.
Nov. 16 at Ohio State
After opening the year with three buy games in South Bend against LIU, Detroit Mercy and Eastern Illinois, the Irish will hit the road for their first real test of the season. Notre Dame will head to Columbus to do battle with the Buckeyes in the first leg of a two-year series that will send the teams return to South Bend in December 2026. Both programs are led by young head coaches in search of their first tournament berth at their respective schools. Notre Dame’s early-season momentum was halted by a mid-November loss to Elon a year ago, while Ohio State’s loss to Pittsburgh in a similar spot may have been what kept them out of the bracket on Selection Sunday. This showdown at Value City Arena will have massive implications for two hungry teams looking to make noise in loaded conferences.
Nov. 24 vs. Kansas (Las Vegas)
The following week, Notre Dame will return to Las Vegas to participate in the Players Era Festival for the second consecutive year. The nation’s premier multi-team event, which pays out NIL shares to each participating team, pits 18 of college basketball’s best brands against each other in a three-game competition. It was a rough Feast Week in Sin City last November for Notre Dame, as they dropped all three contests and lost now-junior guard Markus Burton for nearly a month due to a knee injury suffered against Rutgers.
This year, Notre Dame will do battle with blue blood Kansas on the first day of the event. The Jayhawks have qualified for every NCAA Tournament since 1990 and have captured two national championships during that period. Bill Self looks to have a much-improved roster from last year’s team that was bounced in the first round, meaning the Irish will have their hands full.
However, these are the opportunities the selection committee points to when deliberating over bubble teams. Kansas presents a Q1 opportunity away from home. Notre Dame was 0-8 in Q1 a year ago and fared just 4-13 away from home a year ago. A win against one of the game’s elite programs could announce to the country that Irish basketball is back.
Jan. 20/21 at North Carolina
A road test in Chapel Hill presents another marquee matchup for Shrewsberry’s group as ACC play gets underway at the turn of the calendar. The Tar Heels came into South Bend last winter and shocked the Irish on a last-second four-point play in Markus Burton’s return from injury. The University of North Carolina is in a very similar position to Kansas, as both storied programs have struggled to navigate the NIL era, yet have poured tons of funds into building this year’s roster. With the ACC expansion allowing for less opportunities against the conference’s best teams, Notre Dame will have to take advantage of their trip to Tobacco Road.
Notre Dame trails the all-time series against the Heels 16-5, and hasn’t won in the Dean Smith Center since the 2014-15 Elite Eight season. Burton and fellow junior guard Braden Shrewsberry have proven themselves to be prolific scorers, but their leadership has yet to translate into road victories. There is no better time and place for that to change than Chapel Hill.
Feb. 3/4 at Louisville
While North Carolina escaped South Bend with a win last winter, Louisville came in to Purcell Pavilion and completely dominated the Irish. Regardless of the manner in which those games played out, Notre Dame will be motivated to avenge those defeats. Pat Kelsey has guided a remarkable turnaround for the Cardinals, returning the program to March Madness for the first time since 2019 in his first year at the helm. Louisville has a revamped roster, headlined by talented transfer Ryan Conwell and Mikel Brown Jr. This showdown should be a fast-paced, high-scoring, guard-dominated battle, a style that didn’t lend itself in favor of the Irish last season. Going to the KFC Yum! Center is always challenging, but Notre Dame has the horses to stay competitive with Louisville.
Feb. 24/25 vs. Duke
The most anticipated home game of the season sees the big, bad Duke Blue Devils trek to South Bend for the first of a critical three-game Irish homestand at the end of the season. With the ACC not being as deep recently as in past years, tough losses late in the season have doomed bubble teams like Wake Forest and Pittsburgh over the past couple seasons. On the other hand, a marquee victory over Duke could draw plenty of eyeballs to the expected progress in South Bend, and potentially solidify a spot in the postseason.
Duke’s talent is unmatched, but Notre Dame’s defense and toughness have allowed them to frustrate the Blue Devils under Shrewsberry. The Irish have lost eight-point games at the hands of Jon Scheyer’s Blue Devils each of the prior two years. Noticeable improvement for Micah Shrewsberry’s bunch will be pinpointed by their performance against the nation’s best in the dog days of the season.
